If you're a serious online marketer with your own website or websites, or you promote affiliate marketing programs, you know how expensive PPC (pay-per-click) advertising can be. If you're in a very competitive market, you know first hand how very expensive this can be. Your $1 and $5 clicks add up very quickly, and if you don't know what you're doing, you will lose a lot of money to your competition, and to the PPC companies you're advertising through, like Google AdWords.
There are other online advertising options open to you other than just PPC. There are traffic exchange websites that allow marketers to earn credits to have their websites advertised to a whole community of many thousands of users within the exchange. Webmasters earn credits to have their websites and promotions added into the rotation while surfing through other websites within the traffic exchange system. Also, most of the newer click exchange websites allow you to purchase hundreds or thousand of hits for fractions of a penny, so you don't have to spend a lot of time surfing. Some also have games to keep you occupied and amused while earning credits. Some allow you to sell or trade your credits for cash. Many of the newer traffic exchange sites are truly a huge benefit for online marketers today.
Another huge benefit for website owners from traffic exchange systems is the number of back links they receive for their websites. The more popular these click exchange sites become, the higher their page rank becomes in popular search engines. When your website URLs are in the website rotation, your click count increases, and search engines start to rank your website higher on the free search engine chain. You not only attract new visitors to your website each and every day from the exchange, but you have the ability to get your website higher in the free search engine listings.
One of the absolute best ways to get free, or very cheap, targeted traffic today is by using traffic exchange website. Having a large community of users, clicking through websites and advertisements to earn credits is a powerful way to get targeted traffic to your website. Having the ability to generate more free traffic, and options to purchase clicks for fractions of a penny, or cash in credits for cash, are just some of the benefits why these traffic exchange sites are so popular today and their popularity is growing by the day. All website traffic is not created equally. Traffic is one thing, but targeted traffic is king! These traffic exchange website deliver targeted traffic by visitors who are interested in what you have to offer.
Nothing will replace good old PPC advertising, but when you compliment PPC with click exchanges, just watch your visitors increase by the hundreds, if not thousands each and every month, and watch your sales increase as well. And isn't this what it's all about? So do all you can to increase your targeted traffic, and you will increase your odds of converting your visitors into paying customers. And that's the name of the game my friend.
August 10, 2010
SEO India : You Must Submit Articles To E-zines
Writing articles to promote your website is, hands-down, one of the best ways to get targeted traffic to your website. The best part is that this strategy builds itself over long-term.
One article you write today will continue to get you business for years and years!
Now, most people know that they need to submit that article to directories (or if you did not, you know it now). However, too many marketers miss the biggest golden nugget of them all!
Ezine publishers!
Others who publish newsletters NEED your content and are looking for it. They are looking for good material for their readers. This means that your article could get featured in a huge newsletter! Imagine having a newsletter of 50,000 subscribers or even more feature your article.
Can you imagine the kind of traffic that would bring you!
Besides the traffic generation, here are 6 critical reasons you need to start submitting to Ezines immediately if you really want to build your internet business.
1. You'll brand your web site, business and yourself by submitting articles to E-zines. This is done through the resource box that is added at the end of your article - this resource box allows you to have a biography of yourself and a link back to your website.
2. You will become known as an expert on the topics you write about. This will give you and your business extra credibility which will help you compete against your competition. The more credibility you get, the more joint ventures and affiliates you can recruit to sell your products.
3. Your article might also be placed on the publisher's home page. If they publish each issue on their home page this will give you some extra exposure. This will also help other websites find your article to re-publish.
4. You might get extra exposure if the e-zine publisher archives their e-zine on their site. People might want to read the back issues before they make the decision to subscribe. This can be great if their website is search engine optimized and your article starts to come up for good keywords!
5. It is possible that other e-zine publishers will publish your articles in their free e-books. Once your article is known as a re-printable article, it can start ending up everywhere!
6. Are you thinking about launching a second facet to your business of consulting? Consulting is a great way to add extra income to your online ventures. When you have your articles being spread around the internet, your credibility is huge and getting great consulting clients is easy.
These are all the benefits just from submitting articles to publishers. If you can combine that strategy with submitting your articles to article directories as well, then your articles will go much further!
The benefit of submitting to directories is that the publishers come find YOU. You don't even have to beg them or "bother" them to publish your article.
Most publishers are actively looking for material for their newsletter, when they like what you write - most will contact you to let you know that they are about to publish your article.
This is the best time to reply to them and send them more of the previous articles you have written. It is not unlikely at all to have the same publisher feature you as an author multiple times a month!
So, if you have not started using articles yet - get to it! They are one of the best ways to build short-term AND long-term traffic to your websites.
One article you write today will continue to get you business for years and years!
Now, most people know that they need to submit that article to directories (or if you did not, you know it now). However, too many marketers miss the biggest golden nugget of them all!
Ezine publishers!
Others who publish newsletters NEED your content and are looking for it. They are looking for good material for their readers. This means that your article could get featured in a huge newsletter! Imagine having a newsletter of 50,000 subscribers or even more feature your article.
Can you imagine the kind of traffic that would bring you!
Besides the traffic generation, here are 6 critical reasons you need to start submitting to Ezines immediately if you really want to build your internet business.
1. You'll brand your web site, business and yourself by submitting articles to E-zines. This is done through the resource box that is added at the end of your article - this resource box allows you to have a biography of yourself and a link back to your website.
2. You will become known as an expert on the topics you write about. This will give you and your business extra credibility which will help you compete against your competition. The more credibility you get, the more joint ventures and affiliates you can recruit to sell your products.
3. Your article might also be placed on the publisher's home page. If they publish each issue on their home page this will give you some extra exposure. This will also help other websites find your article to re-publish.
4. You might get extra exposure if the e-zine publisher archives their e-zine on their site. People might want to read the back issues before they make the decision to subscribe. This can be great if their website is search engine optimized and your article starts to come up for good keywords!
5. It is possible that other e-zine publishers will publish your articles in their free e-books. Once your article is known as a re-printable article, it can start ending up everywhere!
6. Are you thinking about launching a second facet to your business of consulting? Consulting is a great way to add extra income to your online ventures. When you have your articles being spread around the internet, your credibility is huge and getting great consulting clients is easy.
These are all the benefits just from submitting articles to publishers. If you can combine that strategy with submitting your articles to article directories as well, then your articles will go much further!
The benefit of submitting to directories is that the publishers come find YOU. You don't even have to beg them or "bother" them to publish your article.
Most publishers are actively looking for material for their newsletter, when they like what you write - most will contact you to let you know that they are about to publish your article.
This is the best time to reply to them and send them more of the previous articles you have written. It is not unlikely at all to have the same publisher feature you as an author multiple times a month!
So, if you have not started using articles yet - get to it! They are one of the best ways to build short-term AND long-term traffic to your websites.
SEO India : Free Traffic
If you're an online marketer and own a website, you know what free traffic means. You also know there's really no such thing as free. There are free traffic exchanges that allow you to get free traffic to your website or promotion, but you must spend your time surfing through other websites to earn credits. Free traffic exchanges are a great way to get lots of visitors to your site however, so spending an hour a day surfing, is not a lot to ask if you're making sales from your efforts.
Free traffic exchanges are a great marketing tool for a many reasons. The best reason is that you get lots of people looking, and hopefully clicking on your website or promotional pages. But there are hidden benefits to free traffic exchanges you may not have even considered.
Search engines love free traffic exchanges because of all the incoming and outgoing links they generate. Plus the rapidly changing content is another reason the search engines love traffic exchanges. Exchanges that have more content also generate a higher page rank, and therefore more traffic, and increased memberships. The key is to find exchanges that are very active and have lots of members. The more members they have, the more potential customers you get looking at your offer and your chances for sales conversions are that much better. But bigger isn't always better.
Some free traffic exchanges may convert sales like crazy for one person, and be a complete waste of time for another. If everyone were promoting the same website or affiliate program is the same traffic exchange for example, then chances are you would not make many sales. Even if you were promoting the #1 thing on the internet, if everyone promoted the same program, your chances are much lower that someone will purchase through your website or link to make you any money. Also, when people see the same ad over and over again, they get desensitized to it. Don't fall into this trap. It's one thing to try and sell a very popular product/service/ebook etc, but it's another thing when a million other people are trying to do it too. Competition is a good thing, because it validates your market, but too much competition is tough and it's time to move on to something else.
We all know clicking on ads in a free traffic exchange can be very boring, monotonous and can take a lot of time. That's why you need to make the best of your opportunity or you will just be wasting a lot of your time and effort on something that just isn't working. If you have your own niche website, then you already differentiated yourself from the pack. If you are an affiliate marketer, then you need to find products/services that everyone else isn't promoting, especially within that particular traffic exchange.
One way to use free traffic exchanges to your advantage is to join a few at first, and see if your sales pick up. If your sales aren't doing well, then test out a few more. When you do find a few traffic exchanges that appear to be generating sales for you, then narrow those down until you find the one, or two that are working. Now concentrate your efforts on those because they're the ones you want. At least for now anyway. Things may change, so keep an eye on your campaigns and if sales seem to be falling off, then it might be time to change your offer or find another traffic exchange that could pick your profits up again.
As I mentioned, your individual promotion is everything. If you're trying to promote something everyone else is, I don't care what traffic exchange service you're using, your sales conversions are going to be very low, or nothing at all. You cannot always blame the exchange. Sometimes you have to look at yourself and think if you're doing all you can to make sales.
If you're going to use multiple free traffic exchanges, and I recommend that you do, you should get yourself a multi-tab web browser. Many of these browsers are free and run on PCs and MACs. The tabs feature allows you to have one web browser open with multiple tabs each going to a separate website. You could easily put 5 or 6 of your free exchange sites in these tabs, and earn credits for all of them at the same time. So instead of surfing for 1/2 an hour or an hour earning 200 hits for one exchange, you could earn 200 hits for 5 exchanges in the same amount of time. This is a huge time saver and multiplies your earned hits by 5X or 6X.
Getting free traffic to your website is a lot of work. If you don't have the money to spend on full blown PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns like Google AdWords, free traffic exchanges are a great way to get the traffic you need at a very good price. Free!
Free traffic exchanges are a great marketing tool for a many reasons. The best reason is that you get lots of people looking, and hopefully clicking on your website or promotional pages. But there are hidden benefits to free traffic exchanges you may not have even considered.
Search engines love free traffic exchanges because of all the incoming and outgoing links they generate. Plus the rapidly changing content is another reason the search engines love traffic exchanges. Exchanges that have more content also generate a higher page rank, and therefore more traffic, and increased memberships. The key is to find exchanges that are very active and have lots of members. The more members they have, the more potential customers you get looking at your offer and your chances for sales conversions are that much better. But bigger isn't always better.
Some free traffic exchanges may convert sales like crazy for one person, and be a complete waste of time for another. If everyone were promoting the same website or affiliate program is the same traffic exchange for example, then chances are you would not make many sales. Even if you were promoting the #1 thing on the internet, if everyone promoted the same program, your chances are much lower that someone will purchase through your website or link to make you any money. Also, when people see the same ad over and over again, they get desensitized to it. Don't fall into this trap. It's one thing to try and sell a very popular product/service/ebook etc, but it's another thing when a million other people are trying to do it too. Competition is a good thing, because it validates your market, but too much competition is tough and it's time to move on to something else.
We all know clicking on ads in a free traffic exchange can be very boring, monotonous and can take a lot of time. That's why you need to make the best of your opportunity or you will just be wasting a lot of your time and effort on something that just isn't working. If you have your own niche website, then you already differentiated yourself from the pack. If you are an affiliate marketer, then you need to find products/services that everyone else isn't promoting, especially within that particular traffic exchange.
One way to use free traffic exchanges to your advantage is to join a few at first, and see if your sales pick up. If your sales aren't doing well, then test out a few more. When you do find a few traffic exchanges that appear to be generating sales for you, then narrow those down until you find the one, or two that are working. Now concentrate your efforts on those because they're the ones you want. At least for now anyway. Things may change, so keep an eye on your campaigns and if sales seem to be falling off, then it might be time to change your offer or find another traffic exchange that could pick your profits up again.
As I mentioned, your individual promotion is everything. If you're trying to promote something everyone else is, I don't care what traffic exchange service you're using, your sales conversions are going to be very low, or nothing at all. You cannot always blame the exchange. Sometimes you have to look at yourself and think if you're doing all you can to make sales.
If you're going to use multiple free traffic exchanges, and I recommend that you do, you should get yourself a multi-tab web browser. Many of these browsers are free and run on PCs and MACs. The tabs feature allows you to have one web browser open with multiple tabs each going to a separate website. You could easily put 5 or 6 of your free exchange sites in these tabs, and earn credits for all of them at the same time. So instead of surfing for 1/2 an hour or an hour earning 200 hits for one exchange, you could earn 200 hits for 5 exchanges in the same amount of time. This is a huge time saver and multiplies your earned hits by 5X or 6X.
Getting free traffic to your website is a lot of work. If you don't have the money to spend on full blown PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns like Google AdWords, free traffic exchanges are a great way to get the traffic you need at a very good price. Free!
SEO India : Promoting Your Website
6 Proven Strategies to Promoting Your Website
There's a proven way to make money online, you can do this by selling information or knowledge you have.
The great part is you'll be your own boss. You're work from your home, while earning money on line. Isn't this fun?
But to successful, you'll need to promote your website.
Make a comprehensive marketing plan that where you've clearly identified your markets and how to appeal to them. You'll also need to
work closely with your web team to optimize your website, so your business connects with both the human audience and content spiders.
But remember - you can only do some much promotions and marketing before you fall flat on your nose. Be sure you have the following elements present in your website.
To promote your website successfully, you need to have great products and services. Otherwise, they will come in to look but won't buy. Your promotional efforts will be a total waste.
Make sure your website is perfectly positioned, to sell and process orders. If your e-commerce aspect is not secure, then no one will buy. No matter how many great products you have. No matter how many links you swap with, promoting your website will just be a waste of time.
Third element - internet marketing, means you need a marketing plan which clearly speaks to your audience. Make sure that it's at a price you can afford. If you spend too much on your promotional efforts, only to have it die down because of lack of funds, you will lose your momentum. So stick to a promotional budget you can afford.
So how do you promote your website?
Website design
Keep your website design basic and user friendly. This means minimizing the use of animation or outlandish colors. Make sure your content has the appropriate keywords in them, so that search engines can read and put you at the upper top of the rankings.
Optimizing your website for search engine rankings
Make it a point to submit your website to two of the most popular and heavily used crawler based search engines - Yahoo and Google. If your promotional budget is small, make sure it's keyword rich. Then submit, wait patiently for a few months before it to appear. Or you can do a sponsored listing if you have a bigger promotional budget.
Submit your website to directories. This is free; and many seo experts say you'll dramatically increase your chances of appearing at the top of the search engine results. Try these directories: MSN, Yahoo, Google, AltaVista and Inktomi, for starters.
Do swap links with other websites. Only after, you've researched their websites to see if you're a fit for each other. Some will refuse to swap links, but don't let it throw you. Just keep trying.
Post authoritative comments about subjects you are knowledgeable about. A majority of these forums give you the freedom to put your URL at the bottom do so.
Lastly - write articles about subjects you are an expert on. Submit these articles to the directories that have big audiences. Include your URL and byline. Soon, you'll get the traffic you need, because of the promotional efforts you've done.
There's a proven way to make money online, you can do this by selling information or knowledge you have.
The great part is you'll be your own boss. You're work from your home, while earning money on line. Isn't this fun?
But to successful, you'll need to promote your website.
Make a comprehensive marketing plan that where you've clearly identified your markets and how to appeal to them. You'll also need to
work closely with your web team to optimize your website, so your business connects with both the human audience and content spiders.
But remember - you can only do some much promotions and marketing before you fall flat on your nose. Be sure you have the following elements present in your website.
To promote your website successfully, you need to have great products and services. Otherwise, they will come in to look but won't buy. Your promotional efforts will be a total waste.
Make sure your website is perfectly positioned, to sell and process orders. If your e-commerce aspect is not secure, then no one will buy. No matter how many great products you have. No matter how many links you swap with, promoting your website will just be a waste of time.
Third element - internet marketing, means you need a marketing plan which clearly speaks to your audience. Make sure that it's at a price you can afford. If you spend too much on your promotional efforts, only to have it die down because of lack of funds, you will lose your momentum. So stick to a promotional budget you can afford.
So how do you promote your website?
Website design
Keep your website design basic and user friendly. This means minimizing the use of animation or outlandish colors. Make sure your content has the appropriate keywords in them, so that search engines can read and put you at the upper top of the rankings.
Optimizing your website for search engine rankings
Make it a point to submit your website to two of the most popular and heavily used crawler based search engines - Yahoo and Google. If your promotional budget is small, make sure it's keyword rich. Then submit, wait patiently for a few months before it to appear. Or you can do a sponsored listing if you have a bigger promotional budget.
Submit your website to directories. This is free; and many seo experts say you'll dramatically increase your chances of appearing at the top of the search engine results. Try these directories: MSN, Yahoo, Google, AltaVista and Inktomi, for starters.
Do swap links with other websites. Only after, you've researched their websites to see if you're a fit for each other. Some will refuse to swap links, but don't let it throw you. Just keep trying.
Post authoritative comments about subjects you are knowledgeable about. A majority of these forums give you the freedom to put your URL at the bottom do so.
Lastly - write articles about subjects you are an expert on. Submit these articles to the directories that have big audiences. Include your URL and byline. Soon, you'll get the traffic you need, because of the promotional efforts you've done.
SEO India : Writing Articles that Captivate Your Readers
You've heard it time and time again: if you want to get your name out there, write articles and allow them to be freely reproduced (with a resource box pointing back to you, of course). Largely, that is true. A well-written article can:
* help you build your profile as an expert
* draw traffic to your site, and
* help you to build a database of potential clients through associated e-courses or a newsletter.
So far you probably haven't heard anything you didn't already know. What YOU are likely to be struggling with is the process of actually writing the article. Sure, you can come up with the content - but how do you really grab those readers? How do you keep their attention all the way through? And most importantly, how do you make them want to come back for more?
Let's assume that you understand the basics of constructing and editing an article (it has a beginning, middle, and an end and you know how to check the grammar and spelling.) Most of us can manage that. But if you're not content with simply "getting something out there" - if you want to WIN readers - then you need to start thinking about what they want to know, rather than what you want to tell them.
Put your readers first - every time. Give them what they want, and they'll be queuing up to read anything you produce. Give them something bland (or worse, blatantly self-serving) and they'll blast by you so fast you'll be spinning in the back draft.
The following four steps will give you a blueprint for writing articles that captivate your readers - whatever the topic.
1. Find Out What Your Readers Really Want
Sometimes you'll know what they want because you're an expert in the field, and understand the problems. If you don't know the subject area well, you'll have to do more research. Look for forums on your topic and see what people are discussing. What are the problems that need solving? Can you provide an answer? ("If they have a headache, give them an aspirin.")
2. Start With An Attention-Grabber
Spend time working on your opening. Try to avoid trite questions like "Have you ever wondered why so many people find it difficult to lose weight?" Firstly, it's dull. Secondly, it's not targeting the person reading the article - what do they care about the difficulties "many people" have with losing weight? They only care about THEIR weight problem!
Try to come up with an opening paragraph that gives the reader that warm "Hey, this is about me!" feeling right away. Better still; try to generate a rush of excitement - "This could be the answer I've been looking for..."
Example: "The diet gurus make it all sound so easy: to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy than you take in. Huh! If it were that simple, the "Big People" stores would be out of business in a heartbeat. Luckily for those of us who are tired of diets, gyms and dull group meetings, there is a back-to-basics way to tackle this. A way that won't cost you a fortune or leave you feeling deprived."
3. Write As You Speak... Then Edit!
The sample opening above also illustrates the importance of the tone you use in your article. You need 'meat' in each article, of course, to make it worth reading - but make sure it's not indigestible!
You're better off writing your article in a natural, relaxed style that's akin to normal conversation. It doesn't matter if the first draft is a little too informal - you can fix that when you edit. Naturally you don't want to irritate your readers with a too-breezy style, but too-formal is worse. Readers may want facts, tips, and strategies, but they hope to be entertained, too! Let your personality shine through.
4. End On A High
What's one of the biggest problems with most articles? They fizzle out! Writers often don't know how to end on an upbeat note. They either just stop dead or they come up with a trite ending like: "So what are you waiting for? Get started today!"
The beginning and the end of your article are the two parts that make the biggest impression. Start by creating a feeling of anticipation... and leave them feeling satisfied (or excited) when you finish.
If you are offering advice to help them solve a problem (like obesity) gives your readers a reason to feel optimistic and good about them. Don't make rash promises... but do offer hope. If you are giving hints on marketing or business, sum up the benefits of acting on your tips. You can also experiment with using a pithy/humorous quote, or giving readers a specific action to get them started. Be creative - and don't rush it.
Here's a final tip: create an article-writing cheat-sheet for yourself. Divide it into beginnings/middles/ends and add more useful strategies as you think of them. (For example, using the tips in this article, you might write: ENDINGS - end on a high, offer hope, use funny quote, suggest action to get started.)
* help you build your profile as an expert
* draw traffic to your site, and
* help you to build a database of potential clients through associated e-courses or a newsletter.
So far you probably haven't heard anything you didn't already know. What YOU are likely to be struggling with is the process of actually writing the article. Sure, you can come up with the content - but how do you really grab those readers? How do you keep their attention all the way through? And most importantly, how do you make them want to come back for more?
Let's assume that you understand the basics of constructing and editing an article (it has a beginning, middle, and an end and you know how to check the grammar and spelling.) Most of us can manage that. But if you're not content with simply "getting something out there" - if you want to WIN readers - then you need to start thinking about what they want to know, rather than what you want to tell them.
Put your readers first - every time. Give them what they want, and they'll be queuing up to read anything you produce. Give them something bland (or worse, blatantly self-serving) and they'll blast by you so fast you'll be spinning in the back draft.
The following four steps will give you a blueprint for writing articles that captivate your readers - whatever the topic.
1. Find Out What Your Readers Really Want
Sometimes you'll know what they want because you're an expert in the field, and understand the problems. If you don't know the subject area well, you'll have to do more research. Look for forums on your topic and see what people are discussing. What are the problems that need solving? Can you provide an answer? ("If they have a headache, give them an aspirin.")
2. Start With An Attention-Grabber
Spend time working on your opening. Try to avoid trite questions like "Have you ever wondered why so many people find it difficult to lose weight?" Firstly, it's dull. Secondly, it's not targeting the person reading the article - what do they care about the difficulties "many people" have with losing weight? They only care about THEIR weight problem!
Try to come up with an opening paragraph that gives the reader that warm "Hey, this is about me!" feeling right away. Better still; try to generate a rush of excitement - "This could be the answer I've been looking for..."
Example: "The diet gurus make it all sound so easy: to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy than you take in. Huh! If it were that simple, the "Big People" stores would be out of business in a heartbeat. Luckily for those of us who are tired of diets, gyms and dull group meetings, there is a back-to-basics way to tackle this. A way that won't cost you a fortune or leave you feeling deprived."
3. Write As You Speak... Then Edit!
The sample opening above also illustrates the importance of the tone you use in your article. You need 'meat' in each article, of course, to make it worth reading - but make sure it's not indigestible!
You're better off writing your article in a natural, relaxed style that's akin to normal conversation. It doesn't matter if the first draft is a little too informal - you can fix that when you edit. Naturally you don't want to irritate your readers with a too-breezy style, but too-formal is worse. Readers may want facts, tips, and strategies, but they hope to be entertained, too! Let your personality shine through.
4. End On A High
What's one of the biggest problems with most articles? They fizzle out! Writers often don't know how to end on an upbeat note. They either just stop dead or they come up with a trite ending like: "So what are you waiting for? Get started today!"
The beginning and the end of your article are the two parts that make the biggest impression. Start by creating a feeling of anticipation... and leave them feeling satisfied (or excited) when you finish.
If you are offering advice to help them solve a problem (like obesity) gives your readers a reason to feel optimistic and good about them. Don't make rash promises... but do offer hope. If you are giving hints on marketing or business, sum up the benefits of acting on your tips. You can also experiment with using a pithy/humorous quote, or giving readers a specific action to get them started. Be creative - and don't rush it.
Here's a final tip: create an article-writing cheat-sheet for yourself. Divide it into beginnings/middles/ends and add more useful strategies as you think of them. (For example, using the tips in this article, you might write: ENDINGS - end on a high, offer hope, use funny quote, suggest action to get started.)
SEO India : The Pen Is Mightier Than Website Traffic
Although significant website traffic to your site can seem to be an uphill battle, once again the pen is the clear winner. Other than free search engine traffic, publishing articles remains as one of the few truly effective ways to get targeted traffic to your site.
If you haven't already tried your hand at writing an article, it may seem like a pretty daunting task, especially if you don't think you have the necessary skills. Anyone can write and submit an effective article and it's easier than you may think.
There is a certain art to writing an article, however, but it doesn't really require any special skills. You don't need a degree to write an article and you don't need to be a programmer to submit your articles to ezines, blogs or any other article distributor to have your article published.
The art of writing an article is in the plan.
If you expect to achieve any amount of success in anything you do, you need to have a well thought out plan and writing an article for publication is no exception. Fortunately, after you have developed your plan, the hard part will be done.
Here are some of the basic elements you should include in your plan to write an effective article:
The first step is to decide what you want to write about but, more importantly, decide what it is you know about your topic that the majority of your readers don't already know. If you think you don't know enough about your topic to write an article, do some research.
Albert Einstein once said that he didn't clutter his mind with information he didn't need but he knew where to find it if he needed it. There's a wealth of information available and with a little homework, you'll have more than enough information for your article in no time.
The next step is to make a list of the main points of your topic. Pick one you want to expand and focus your article around that point. It's easy to get carried away and to try to pack too much information into a single article. Save the other main points of your topic for other articles.
The next step is to establish the sub-points, if any, of the main point you would like to convey to your readers. How can you further explain the point of your article? For example, what do you feel is important for your readers to know and what pitfalls should they avoid? Point out vulnerabilities and solutions.
The next step is to determine what you want your readers to get out of your article. Simply offering information will read like a text book and won't be very interesting. Challenge your readers to think about what you're saying and how they can put it to use in a way they haven't thought of before - peak their interest.
The next step to decide the 'color' of your article. By 'color' I mean the style you would like your article to have. For example, your article could be formal, informal, humorous, serious, casual, general, personal - you get the idea.
Now that we've gone over the steps to create an article, now let's put them in order and fill in the blanks.
#1) Decide what the main topic of your article will be.
#2) Establish the sub-points, if any, of your main topic.
#3) Determine what you want your readers to get out of your article.
#4) Pick a 'color' for your article -- the style you would like to use.
#5) Create a rough draft of your article.
#6) Edit your article. (have someone read your article and offer suggestions)
#7) Check your grammar and spelling.
#8) Create a title for your article. (keep it simple and catchy)
#9) Create a 'teaser' for your article. (a 'teaser' is a short, 2 or 3 sentence description of the contents of your article)
#10) Create a 'bio'. (a 'bio' is a short, 2 or 3 sentence description of who your are and your qualifications. Remember to put a link to your website in your 'bio')
#11) List 4 or 5 of the keywords that relate to your article. (some article distributors require them)
#12) Submit your article to article distributors. (that's a topic for another article)
The hardest part of writing articles is actually writing and submitting your first one. The more articles you write, the easier and more enjoyable it gets.
So, go ahead - start writing and submitting articles and watch your website traffic skyrocket!
If you haven't already tried your hand at writing an article, it may seem like a pretty daunting task, especially if you don't think you have the necessary skills. Anyone can write and submit an effective article and it's easier than you may think.
There is a certain art to writing an article, however, but it doesn't really require any special skills. You don't need a degree to write an article and you don't need to be a programmer to submit your articles to ezines, blogs or any other article distributor to have your article published.
The art of writing an article is in the plan.
If you expect to achieve any amount of success in anything you do, you need to have a well thought out plan and writing an article for publication is no exception. Fortunately, after you have developed your plan, the hard part will be done.
Here are some of the basic elements you should include in your plan to write an effective article:
The first step is to decide what you want to write about but, more importantly, decide what it is you know about your topic that the majority of your readers don't already know. If you think you don't know enough about your topic to write an article, do some research.
Albert Einstein once said that he didn't clutter his mind with information he didn't need but he knew where to find it if he needed it. There's a wealth of information available and with a little homework, you'll have more than enough information for your article in no time.
The next step is to make a list of the main points of your topic. Pick one you want to expand and focus your article around that point. It's easy to get carried away and to try to pack too much information into a single article. Save the other main points of your topic for other articles.
The next step is to establish the sub-points, if any, of the main point you would like to convey to your readers. How can you further explain the point of your article? For example, what do you feel is important for your readers to know and what pitfalls should they avoid? Point out vulnerabilities and solutions.
The next step is to determine what you want your readers to get out of your article. Simply offering information will read like a text book and won't be very interesting. Challenge your readers to think about what you're saying and how they can put it to use in a way they haven't thought of before - peak their interest.
The next step to decide the 'color' of your article. By 'color' I mean the style you would like your article to have. For example, your article could be formal, informal, humorous, serious, casual, general, personal - you get the idea.
Now that we've gone over the steps to create an article, now let's put them in order and fill in the blanks.
#1) Decide what the main topic of your article will be.
#2) Establish the sub-points, if any, of your main topic.
#3) Determine what you want your readers to get out of your article.
#4) Pick a 'color' for your article -- the style you would like to use.
#5) Create a rough draft of your article.
#6) Edit your article. (have someone read your article and offer suggestions)
#7) Check your grammar and spelling.
#8) Create a title for your article. (keep it simple and catchy)
#9) Create a 'teaser' for your article. (a 'teaser' is a short, 2 or 3 sentence description of the contents of your article)
#10) Create a 'bio'. (a 'bio' is a short, 2 or 3 sentence description of who your are and your qualifications. Remember to put a link to your website in your 'bio')
#11) List 4 or 5 of the keywords that relate to your article. (some article distributors require them)
#12) Submit your article to article distributors. (that's a topic for another article)
The hardest part of writing articles is actually writing and submitting your first one. The more articles you write, the easier and more enjoyable it gets.
So, go ahead - start writing and submitting articles and watch your website traffic skyrocket!
SEO India : Website Traffic Is Not The Key To Success
Website traffic is deemed the single most important factor when it comes to the success of a website but that statement needs to be qualified. Although it's true that a constant stream of traffic is the lifeblood of a website, the quality of the traffic is far more important than the quantity.
Of course, any amount of website traffic is better than no traffic at all but even if you have the most perfect website, your site is doomed to fail if you are not getting visitors that are looking for the products or information you have available on your site.
It's easy to get caught up in a numbers game. It's exciting to see the number of visitors to your site climb from a few a day to a few hundred a day. On the surface, this looks like exactly what you want but if your visitors are looking for something other than what you are offering, for the most part, your website traffic is wasted.
You could have a great website design, compelling copy, the lowest prices and fantastic specials but all your efforts will be useless unless your website is drawing traffic that is interested in what you are providing or promoting.
What you need are visitors specifically interested in your product or service -- you need 'targeted traffic'.
Don't think of targeted traffic as a sub-category of website traffic because they really are two separate entities. If you're marketing plan is designed to drive as much website traffic as possible to your site, no matter what kind of traffic it is, then you're not making effective use of your time and you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
The web is a very different venue than a shopping mall. A shopping mall relies on unfocused traffic, wondering from store to store, not looking for anything in particular but willing to spend it's money on an impulse.
Believe it or not, people surfing the web will leave a website after viewing it for only about 2 seconds. They're looking for specific items or information and if they don't quickly find what they are looking for on your site, they'll click out of your site and go to one of the other millions of sites on the web.
That's why most of the successful websites are tightly focused on their 'niche' and their marketing plan is focused on driving people to their site that are looking for what they offer - they understand the importance of 'targeted traffic'.
Of course, targeted traffic and a website focused on a particular 'niche' go hand and hand. Think about your website. Does it really lend itself to a specific product or service, or is it so broad that it tends to confuse potential customers?
Here are a few tips to help you prepare your website for targeted traffic:
Design your website to promote one particular product or service as your main item.
Determine the type of people that will be interested in your product or service and adjust your website to be attractive to them.
Establish the items or services that are 'closely' related to what you're promoting on your website. If you think that they would be interesting to your visitors, offer those items on your website as well.
Keep a constant flow of free content, that your visitors will find useful, on your website and add new content and information often. Invite your visitors back to your site to see the new material you're constantly adding.
Keep in mind, a website that's focused on a particular 'niche' item or service lends itself to targeted traffic simply because there is something specific to target and the more targeted traffic your site receives, the more productive your site will be.
There are many conventional and many not so conventional ways to drive targeted traffic to your website but we'll explore them in other articles.
The purpose of this article is to point out the difference between website traffic and targeted traffic. More isn't always better and if you focus your marketing on 'targeted traffic' you'll quickly find that the hits your getting on your website aren't just empty numbers - they'll be potential customers and, more importantly, sales.
Of course, any amount of website traffic is better than no traffic at all but even if you have the most perfect website, your site is doomed to fail if you are not getting visitors that are looking for the products or information you have available on your site.
It's easy to get caught up in a numbers game. It's exciting to see the number of visitors to your site climb from a few a day to a few hundred a day. On the surface, this looks like exactly what you want but if your visitors are looking for something other than what you are offering, for the most part, your website traffic is wasted.
You could have a great website design, compelling copy, the lowest prices and fantastic specials but all your efforts will be useless unless your website is drawing traffic that is interested in what you are providing or promoting.
What you need are visitors specifically interested in your product or service -- you need 'targeted traffic'.
Don't think of targeted traffic as a sub-category of website traffic because they really are two separate entities. If you're marketing plan is designed to drive as much website traffic as possible to your site, no matter what kind of traffic it is, then you're not making effective use of your time and you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
The web is a very different venue than a shopping mall. A shopping mall relies on unfocused traffic, wondering from store to store, not looking for anything in particular but willing to spend it's money on an impulse.
Believe it or not, people surfing the web will leave a website after viewing it for only about 2 seconds. They're looking for specific items or information and if they don't quickly find what they are looking for on your site, they'll click out of your site and go to one of the other millions of sites on the web.
That's why most of the successful websites are tightly focused on their 'niche' and their marketing plan is focused on driving people to their site that are looking for what they offer - they understand the importance of 'targeted traffic'.
Of course, targeted traffic and a website focused on a particular 'niche' go hand and hand. Think about your website. Does it really lend itself to a specific product or service, or is it so broad that it tends to confuse potential customers?
Here are a few tips to help you prepare your website for targeted traffic:
Design your website to promote one particular product or service as your main item.
Determine the type of people that will be interested in your product or service and adjust your website to be attractive to them.
Establish the items or services that are 'closely' related to what you're promoting on your website. If you think that they would be interesting to your visitors, offer those items on your website as well.
Keep a constant flow of free content, that your visitors will find useful, on your website and add new content and information often. Invite your visitors back to your site to see the new material you're constantly adding.
Keep in mind, a website that's focused on a particular 'niche' item or service lends itself to targeted traffic simply because there is something specific to target and the more targeted traffic your site receives, the more productive your site will be.
There are many conventional and many not so conventional ways to drive targeted traffic to your website but we'll explore them in other articles.
The purpose of this article is to point out the difference between website traffic and targeted traffic. More isn't always better and if you focus your marketing on 'targeted traffic' you'll quickly find that the hits your getting on your website aren't just empty numbers - they'll be potential customers and, more importantly, sales.
SEO India : Classified Way to Drive Business to Your Website
There are more than 105 million of them in the United States. Worldwide, there could be at least 250 million of them. Them, according to statistics from the Nielsen/Net Ratings service, is the number of active Web surfers. 250 million in the whole world? The figure is more than the populations of Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and a few non-English speaking countries combined. That's a lot of them!
With so many active surfers around, you would think Webmasters and site owners have an easy time attracting them. Actually, they face an uphill battle to bring visitors and, more importantly, consumers to their Web sites. And a Web site without traffic is like a store built in the middle of the desert. You could have the greatest products and most attractive Web design around, but they're worthless if no one visits them.
There is one way, however, to turn your Web site into an oasis of business, a way to drive as much traffic to your site as your server can handle: a classified ad.
More on that later. First, all Web builders and site owners should know the basic and time-tested ways to attract traffic to their Web site. The key to all of these methods is to attract the right Web surfers. You want what experts call "targeted visitors," or people who are actually interested in what you're selling. To guarantee that this happens, you should follow this checklist of Web traffic golden rules:
Step 1: Optimize your Web pages.
Webmasters in the know take the time to set their meta tags. These tags, or codes, are hidden keywords in the Web page that tell search engines like Google and Yahoo exactly what your site is all about. A meta tag, for instance, could be "designer handbags," "sporting equipment," or whatever else you happen to be selling. These keywords tell the search engine to direct all handbag or sports shoppers to your site.
Step 2: List your site with every search engine out there.
For this step, you simply need to surf over to Google, AltaVista, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines. Click onto their customer service page, where they allow Web builders and site owners to manually submit their site addresses.
Step 3. Spice up your site with interactive features.
With articles, newsletters, offers, promotions, and discounts, you give your targeted visitors a reason to stay at your site once they find it. More importantly, you give them reasons to come back and tell their friends about the site. Word of mouth is one of the best, and cheapest, forms of advertising on the planet.
Step 4. Exchange banner ads with friends and with other companies that you do business with.
Banner ads are those eye-catching designs at the top and bottom of Web pages. They're like the billboards of the Internet superhighway. But with these online billboards, a simple click transports the Web surfer directly to your Web site.
Step 5. Exchange Web links with friends and business associates.
This, Webmasters and site owners, could be the most important way to drive Web traffic to your site. All of the major search engines rank sites by measuring how many links come to and leave from your Web site.
So links are a way to measure how worthwhile and how legitimate your site is. The better this measurement, the better chance your site will have to show up well in Web surfers' searches. In other words, these links could be the difference between your site being listed on page 20 of a Google search results, or on page 1.
Building better Web links and search engine results-that's where classified sites come into play. Some of the most savvy classified sites on the market now offer Web links in their ads. These links lead right to your business' home page.
Not only are these links convenient one-click ways for more customers to reach your site. They also boost your search engine rankings.
Of course, for business owners, classified sites have so many other benefits, too.
* Unparalleled exposure. Classified sites are like online malls. Not only will you get exposure from shoppers coming specifically to find your goods. You get "spill over" attention from shoppers who came for another item but then start browsing through all of the other ads in the classified "mall."
* A new arsenal of Web sites. Having online classified ads is like setting up multiple new Web sites across the Internet. Unlike your own original site, these classified ads come with low-cost IT support, security, and advertising.
* Incredible growth opportunities. Businesses and individuals selling on online classified sites pull in more than $1.95 billion a year, according to the statistics firm Kelsey Group. That figure does not even include money from eBay.
* Money for nothing. As valuable as classified sites are, many of the best ones charge very little or absolutely nothing to set up your ads.
Add up all of these numbers-250 million active Web surfers in the world, $1.95 billion in classified sales, and $0 cost-and your Web business is sure to come out in the positive.
With so many active surfers around, you would think Webmasters and site owners have an easy time attracting them. Actually, they face an uphill battle to bring visitors and, more importantly, consumers to their Web sites. And a Web site without traffic is like a store built in the middle of the desert. You could have the greatest products and most attractive Web design around, but they're worthless if no one visits them.
There is one way, however, to turn your Web site into an oasis of business, a way to drive as much traffic to your site as your server can handle: a classified ad.
More on that later. First, all Web builders and site owners should know the basic and time-tested ways to attract traffic to their Web site. The key to all of these methods is to attract the right Web surfers. You want what experts call "targeted visitors," or people who are actually interested in what you're selling. To guarantee that this happens, you should follow this checklist of Web traffic golden rules:
Step 1: Optimize your Web pages.
Webmasters in the know take the time to set their meta tags. These tags, or codes, are hidden keywords in the Web page that tell search engines like Google and Yahoo exactly what your site is all about. A meta tag, for instance, could be "designer handbags," "sporting equipment," or whatever else you happen to be selling. These keywords tell the search engine to direct all handbag or sports shoppers to your site.
Step 2: List your site with every search engine out there.
For this step, you simply need to surf over to Google, AltaVista, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines. Click onto their customer service page, where they allow Web builders and site owners to manually submit their site addresses.
Step 3. Spice up your site with interactive features.
With articles, newsletters, offers, promotions, and discounts, you give your targeted visitors a reason to stay at your site once they find it. More importantly, you give them reasons to come back and tell their friends about the site. Word of mouth is one of the best, and cheapest, forms of advertising on the planet.
Step 4. Exchange banner ads with friends and with other companies that you do business with.
Banner ads are those eye-catching designs at the top and bottom of Web pages. They're like the billboards of the Internet superhighway. But with these online billboards, a simple click transports the Web surfer directly to your Web site.
Step 5. Exchange Web links with friends and business associates.
This, Webmasters and site owners, could be the most important way to drive Web traffic to your site. All of the major search engines rank sites by measuring how many links come to and leave from your Web site.
So links are a way to measure how worthwhile and how legitimate your site is. The better this measurement, the better chance your site will have to show up well in Web surfers' searches. In other words, these links could be the difference between your site being listed on page 20 of a Google search results, or on page 1.
Building better Web links and search engine results-that's where classified sites come into play. Some of the most savvy classified sites on the market now offer Web links in their ads. These links lead right to your business' home page.
Not only are these links convenient one-click ways for more customers to reach your site. They also boost your search engine rankings.
Of course, for business owners, classified sites have so many other benefits, too.
* Unparalleled exposure. Classified sites are like online malls. Not only will you get exposure from shoppers coming specifically to find your goods. You get "spill over" attention from shoppers who came for another item but then start browsing through all of the other ads in the classified "mall."
* A new arsenal of Web sites. Having online classified ads is like setting up multiple new Web sites across the Internet. Unlike your own original site, these classified ads come with low-cost IT support, security, and advertising.
* Incredible growth opportunities. Businesses and individuals selling on online classified sites pull in more than $1.95 billion a year, according to the statistics firm Kelsey Group. That figure does not even include money from eBay.
* Money for nothing. As valuable as classified sites are, many of the best ones charge very little or absolutely nothing to set up your ads.
Add up all of these numbers-250 million active Web surfers in the world, $1.95 billion in classified sales, and $0 cost-and your Web business is sure to come out in the positive.
SEO India :automated traffic something to consider
There are many, different services that offer some sort of traffic exchange. Some require you to click, and browse other people's web pages. As this is a requirement for everyone, your site will be seen by everyone using the same system.
Other programs - known as autosurfs - are based on the same idea, but instead of clicking links, the script does it for you. The good thing about it is; you do not have to browse, or even watch a single page to earn "page views". The downside is quite obvious; there is no guarantee your site will actually be seen, you are only getting automated page views.
Another way of exchanging traffic with other websites is thru, so called toplists. You simply send visitors to a toplist - the more you send, the higher your link will be placed - getting you more visitors back.
Yet another popular method is banner exchanges, borderline automated. Often it IS script based, with methods of earning credits much the same as traffic exchanges and autosurfs. But the big difference is in the quality of traffic received. Another big advantage is the free exposure you - and your trademark - will get from having your banner seen all over the web. It is no coincidence large companies spend top dollar on making their trademark(s) well known.
Is this traffic of any use?
Well, it might be. Depending on what your site is about, you can gain much from these programs. Advertising a product appealing to webmasters and site owners, will make it easier to attract new customers, since they are the only ones using these traffic programs.
If you have a site completely unrelated to the webmaster community, you might advertise your affiliate program, if you have one.
For those of you not running an affiliate program, and with no products appealing to webmasters, it's time to get creative.
If you use these "tools" to your advantage, it is possible to extract quality visitors - all though not in the same quantity - instead of merely site views and loss of bandwidth. Read more about converting hits into visitors at El Traffico
Are there any hazards?
Many contextual advertisers do not approve of automated traffic, some will even terminate your account if you repeatedly send automated traffic to pages with contextual advertising code on it. If you drive a lot of traffic to your site, see to it you only send it to pages without these ads. This is extremely important if you are getting paid per impression. No one wants to pay you for automated impressions.
Try to spread the traffic out a bit, not allocating all visitors at the same time. It can, and will be a huge amount of page views if you are using autosurfs to directly send traffic to your site. This can slow the site down if you point them to a "heavy page".
Other programs - known as autosurfs - are based on the same idea, but instead of clicking links, the script does it for you. The good thing about it is; you do not have to browse, or even watch a single page to earn "page views". The downside is quite obvious; there is no guarantee your site will actually be seen, you are only getting automated page views.
Another way of exchanging traffic with other websites is thru, so called toplists. You simply send visitors to a toplist - the more you send, the higher your link will be placed - getting you more visitors back.
Yet another popular method is banner exchanges, borderline automated. Often it IS script based, with methods of earning credits much the same as traffic exchanges and autosurfs. But the big difference is in the quality of traffic received. Another big advantage is the free exposure you - and your trademark - will get from having your banner seen all over the web. It is no coincidence large companies spend top dollar on making their trademark(s) well known.
Is this traffic of any use?
Well, it might be. Depending on what your site is about, you can gain much from these programs. Advertising a product appealing to webmasters and site owners, will make it easier to attract new customers, since they are the only ones using these traffic programs.
If you have a site completely unrelated to the webmaster community, you might advertise your affiliate program, if you have one.
For those of you not running an affiliate program, and with no products appealing to webmasters, it's time to get creative.
If you use these "tools" to your advantage, it is possible to extract quality visitors - all though not in the same quantity - instead of merely site views and loss of bandwidth. Read more about converting hits into visitors at El Traffico
Are there any hazards?
Many contextual advertisers do not approve of automated traffic, some will even terminate your account if you repeatedly send automated traffic to pages with contextual advertising code on it. If you drive a lot of traffic to your site, see to it you only send it to pages without these ads. This is extremely important if you are getting paid per impression. No one wants to pay you for automated impressions.
Try to spread the traffic out a bit, not allocating all visitors at the same time. It can, and will be a huge amount of page views if you are using autosurfs to directly send traffic to your site. This can slow the site down if you point them to a "heavy page".
SEO India : Submit Your Articles To Ezines Directory
Getting your product or service delivered to your targeted audience is one of the most important success factor in internet based business. There are many technique to deliver your content to your targeted audience. Submit good articles to high traffic ezine directory is one of the technique which is relatively simple and affordable for build up your online business. Below are lists the benefits.
1. You'll brand your web site, business and yourself by submitting articles to e-zines. You could include your name, business name, your credentials, web site address and e-mail address in your resource box.
2. You will become known as an expert on the topics you write about. This will give you and your business extra credibility which will help you compete against your competition.
3. Your article might also be placed on the publisher's home page. If they publish each issue on their home page this will give you some extra exposure.
4. You might get extra exposure if the e-zine publisher archives their e-zine on their site. People might want to read the back issues before they make the decision to subscribe.
5. You will get free advertising. This will allow you to spend your profits on other forms of advertising. You could buy advertisements in other e-zines that don't publish your articles.
6. You might get extra income from people wanting to hire you to write other articles, books, or even ask to speak at seminars. This is a great way to multiply your income.
7. You could allow e-zine publishers to publish your articles in their free e-books. Since people give them away, your advertising could multiply all over the internet.
8. You will get your article published all over the web when you submit it to an e-zine publisher that has a free content directory on their web site. They'll allow their visitors to republish your article.
9. You'll gain people's trust. If they read your article and like it, they won't be as hesitant to buy your
product or service. You will then be able to increase your profits.
10. You could get your article guaranteed to run in an e-zine. You could agree to run one of their articles in your e-zine if, in exchange, they run yours in their e-zine. It's a win/win situation.
The above list is a great start if you are thinking of starting a business on internet. It is relatively simple and very affordable.
1. You'll brand your web site, business and yourself by submitting articles to e-zines. You could include your name, business name, your credentials, web site address and e-mail address in your resource box.
2. You will become known as an expert on the topics you write about. This will give you and your business extra credibility which will help you compete against your competition.
3. Your article might also be placed on the publisher's home page. If they publish each issue on their home page this will give you some extra exposure.
4. You might get extra exposure if the e-zine publisher archives their e-zine on their site. People might want to read the back issues before they make the decision to subscribe.
5. You will get free advertising. This will allow you to spend your profits on other forms of advertising. You could buy advertisements in other e-zines that don't publish your articles.
6. You might get extra income from people wanting to hire you to write other articles, books, or even ask to speak at seminars. This is a great way to multiply your income.
7. You could allow e-zine publishers to publish your articles in their free e-books. Since people give them away, your advertising could multiply all over the internet.
8. You will get your article published all over the web when you submit it to an e-zine publisher that has a free content directory on their web site. They'll allow their visitors to republish your article.
9. You'll gain people's trust. If they read your article and like it, they won't be as hesitant to buy your
product or service. You will then be able to increase your profits.
10. You could get your article guaranteed to run in an e-zine. You could agree to run one of their articles in your e-zine if, in exchange, they run yours in their e-zine. It's a win/win situation.
The above list is a great start if you are thinking of starting a business on internet. It is relatively simple and very affordable.
SEO India : Improve Your Websites Performance
How well is your website performing? Are you satisfied with the amount of customers who view your website? Do you get enough business through your website? By reading this article you will be in a position to do something about all three questions.
It's all very well having a nicely designed and appealing website for your business but it's of no use if you don't get the customers to visit it. The number one term you will find associated with this is search engine optimisation. You will find endless sources on the Internet telling you to optimise this and optimise that but what does it all mean?
Search engine optimisation simply means making your website as friendly to search engines as possible. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN provide your business with the ability to reach a huge amount of customer's, they are by far the most successful method to boost sales for your business. If your website is nicely optimised then you will have a greater chance of appearing higher up on the search engines.
Most customers will type in a phrase into the search engine and view the first couple of websites that it finds, they will usually be successful in finding what they were looking for on the first page of results. Statistics show that customers very rarely look further than the first page (90% don't look past the first page) so what good is it if your website was on page 10? This is where search engine optimisation comes in, it will give your business a greater chance of being on that first golden page in the search engines.
There are many methods that all contribute to a higher ranking but some are more influential than others. The first factor is having a well built website. This is a standard feature that all website design companies should offer.
The second method is keywords. Keywords are the words that are associated with your business, the idea is to include these words in your website so when a customer types in a phrase in a search engine, your website is more likely to appear. Keywords should be chosen carefully to target the correct market for your business. It's no good targeting the word "Fruit" if your business sells website design.
The third factor that contributes to a high search engine ranking is back links. This simply means a link from someone else's website to yours. The more links you have to your website the better. Search engines view your back links as a sign of popularity and obviously the more popular you are the more successful you appear.
One of the best methods for this is to submit your website to online directories, not only will you get a back link but you are also likely to get a lot of customers coming to your website from that link. Make sure that you select trusted directories and one's that can relate to your business, there is a chance that you will get penalized by search engines if you sign up to link farms (websites that collect lot's of spam and poor quality links).
Finally, having a website that is constantly updated also gives you a boost in terms of search engines as they like to see fresh content. This is also likely to draw customers back to your website as they know they are likely to see something new. This in turn will boost the amount of traffic you get to your website which will also help in gaining a higher search engine rank.
These are just some of the methods in which you can improve your website performance, there are many other factors that contribute to a high search engine ranking. Most are an on-going process so it is very beneficial to your business to continually try to improve your performance as there is always someone competing against you for that top spot.
It's all very well having a nicely designed and appealing website for your business but it's of no use if you don't get the customers to visit it. The number one term you will find associated with this is search engine optimisation. You will find endless sources on the Internet telling you to optimise this and optimise that but what does it all mean?
Search engine optimisation simply means making your website as friendly to search engines as possible. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN provide your business with the ability to reach a huge amount of customer's, they are by far the most successful method to boost sales for your business. If your website is nicely optimised then you will have a greater chance of appearing higher up on the search engines.
Most customers will type in a phrase into the search engine and view the first couple of websites that it finds, they will usually be successful in finding what they were looking for on the first page of results. Statistics show that customers very rarely look further than the first page (90% don't look past the first page) so what good is it if your website was on page 10? This is where search engine optimisation comes in, it will give your business a greater chance of being on that first golden page in the search engines.
There are many methods that all contribute to a higher ranking but some are more influential than others. The first factor is having a well built website. This is a standard feature that all website design companies should offer.
The second method is keywords. Keywords are the words that are associated with your business, the idea is to include these words in your website so when a customer types in a phrase in a search engine, your website is more likely to appear. Keywords should be chosen carefully to target the correct market for your business. It's no good targeting the word "Fruit" if your business sells website design.
The third factor that contributes to a high search engine ranking is back links. This simply means a link from someone else's website to yours. The more links you have to your website the better. Search engines view your back links as a sign of popularity and obviously the more popular you are the more successful you appear.
One of the best methods for this is to submit your website to online directories, not only will you get a back link but you are also likely to get a lot of customers coming to your website from that link. Make sure that you select trusted directories and one's that can relate to your business, there is a chance that you will get penalized by search engines if you sign up to link farms (websites that collect lot's of spam and poor quality links).
Finally, having a website that is constantly updated also gives you a boost in terms of search engines as they like to see fresh content. This is also likely to draw customers back to your website as they know they are likely to see something new. This in turn will boost the amount of traffic you get to your website which will also help in gaining a higher search engine rank.
These are just some of the methods in which you can improve your website performance, there are many other factors that contribute to a high search engine ranking. Most are an on-going process so it is very beneficial to your business to continually try to improve your performance as there is always someone competing against you for that top spot.
SEO India : You Have A Website Now What?
You start with a great idea or product that you want to market. You have done the research and built the website but how do you drive people to your site? The internet can be a field of dreams; however, due to its sheer size even if you build it, they may not come.
If you have unlimited funds, you can definitely pay to get your website submitted to multiple search engines quickly. If you want to submit your website to search engines for free, it can take anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks for the search engine to finally add you to their results. But you want traffic now.
There are a lot of submission programs being advertised on the internet. Some are legitimate programs and some will take your money and not deliver. It is hard to know who to trust. Here are some ideas to help assist you on the road to success.
1. Promote your website yourself.
This sounds like a very broad statement and just where do you start? Get creative. There are many avenues that you can take to advertise your product and/or website.
a. Add your website information to your signature line in your email account. Every time you send an email, you are also advertising your website.
b. Print up flyers about your product / website and post them around your community.
c. Take out classified ads in your local papers. Many of these you can do online and can do so rather cheaply.
d. There are multiple free classified sites that you can submit to. You may not get a large number of clicks through free classifieds but the goal is to get your information circulating.
e. Another good avenue I have found to drive traffic to your website without having to pay out large advertising dollars is by using Instant Buzz. Instant Buzz is the easiest way to drive targeted traffic to your website just by doing what you do anyway; surfing the web. You can install Instant Buzz in seconds, never do anything different ever again, and you'll still earn traffic every time you surf. It is free to use so you don't really have anything to lose and everything to gain. For more information you can visit http://www.InstantBuzz.com/r/?jpvh28
2. Pay-Per-Click
This form of advertising can get pricey pretty quickly but by using Google Adwords and Yahoo, you can set your own daily spending limit to ensure you don't go over budget. Both sites have keyword help to assist you in creating the keywords for your ads. A small word of advice, start small when using Pay-Per-Click. Allow yourself the opportunity to get the hang of it. If you choose keywords with low click price, you can receive more clicks before you reach your limit. There are a lot of great resources out there to learn about using Pay-Per-Clicks.
I have come across an eBook that has changed my way of thinking when it comes to Internet Marketing. It is called "Dotcomology. The Science of Making Money Online". This book contains information on how to use Pay-Per-Click search engines properly to drive traffic to your site; How to profit using Google Adwords; How to make your website attractive, engaging and interactive. This book has so many resources and insights, I am unable to list them all within this article. The best part of this eBook is that it is free. No gimmicks, no hype. Just a free resource for you to use.
If you have unlimited funds, you can definitely pay to get your website submitted to multiple search engines quickly. If you want to submit your website to search engines for free, it can take anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks for the search engine to finally add you to their results. But you want traffic now.
There are a lot of submission programs being advertised on the internet. Some are legitimate programs and some will take your money and not deliver. It is hard to know who to trust. Here are some ideas to help assist you on the road to success.
1. Promote your website yourself.
This sounds like a very broad statement and just where do you start? Get creative. There are many avenues that you can take to advertise your product and/or website.
a. Add your website information to your signature line in your email account. Every time you send an email, you are also advertising your website.
b. Print up flyers about your product / website and post them around your community.
c. Take out classified ads in your local papers. Many of these you can do online and can do so rather cheaply.
d. There are multiple free classified sites that you can submit to. You may not get a large number of clicks through free classifieds but the goal is to get your information circulating.
e. Another good avenue I have found to drive traffic to your website without having to pay out large advertising dollars is by using Instant Buzz. Instant Buzz is the easiest way to drive targeted traffic to your website just by doing what you do anyway; surfing the web. You can install Instant Buzz in seconds, never do anything different ever again, and you'll still earn traffic every time you surf. It is free to use so you don't really have anything to lose and everything to gain. For more information you can visit http://www.InstantBuzz.com/r/?jpvh28
2. Pay-Per-Click
This form of advertising can get pricey pretty quickly but by using Google Adwords and Yahoo, you can set your own daily spending limit to ensure you don't go over budget. Both sites have keyword help to assist you in creating the keywords for your ads. A small word of advice, start small when using Pay-Per-Click. Allow yourself the opportunity to get the hang of it. If you choose keywords with low click price, you can receive more clicks before you reach your limit. There are a lot of great resources out there to learn about using Pay-Per-Clicks.
I have come across an eBook that has changed my way of thinking when it comes to Internet Marketing. It is called "Dotcomology. The Science of Making Money Online". This book contains information on how to use Pay-Per-Click search engines properly to drive traffic to your site; How to profit using Google Adwords; How to make your website attractive, engaging and interactive. This book has so many resources and insights, I am unable to list them all within this article. The best part of this eBook is that it is free. No gimmicks, no hype. Just a free resource for you to use.
SEO India : Google Marches On!
October 19, 2006-Wow!!! First Google reports another blowout quarter. Earlier the same day, Nielsen publishes search results for September 2006, and Google put the hammer to the competition there also. They garnered 50% search share which equates to 24% growth year over year (YOY). Talk about impressive numbers-the Google train obviously isn't slowing!
How does this impact the major search game? Does this sound the warning siren to Microsoft that maybe they ought to reconsider buying out Yahoo? It makes perfect sense given the fact that Microsoft's search results continue to fall (-12% YOY to a 9.23% share), and Yahoo isn't keeping Google within an eyeshot either although they still maintain a nice share of the search market (23.4%; up 12% YOY). The two of them combined would give Google a little competition, and we, the consumer, would benefit from greater services and advancements in software along with online options as the companies battle it out in the marketplace. If not, Google is going to run off and hide.
Perhaps Yahoo (with a lot of cash to spare) will buy some smaller niche companies to make themselves even more attractive to Microsoft, but I don't believe Microsoft will sit by idly while Yahoo postulates what to do next. It's Microsoft's move to make, and the time to act is now; not a year from now when their collective search share is even lower. Google is a formidable threat to Microsoft, and they aren't going to take a breather just because they've hung up yet another blow out quarter financially and in search. Yahoo has shown they can't keep pace on their own so they're going to need some help if they have any intention of ever catching Google. Google smells blood, and that signals the time to push harder; not back away. YouTube is likely just the beginning of an intriguing acquisition spree for the gang in Mountain View.
Microsoft would be wise to snatch up Yahoo right now after Yahoo posted a rather blah quarter earlier in the week which will shrink their market capitalization a little where Mr. Softy could acquire Yahoo at a "discount." They didn't like the idea of buying Yahoo at $29/share a couple months ago, but they should probably like it at $25.
Yahoo isn't "dead." It's not like they're stinking up the joint (they are still growing albeit much slower), and they do understand the search game which Microsoft hasn't quite yet figured out. It seems to make a logical marriage at this stage of the game.
Bottom line: this is shaping up rather nicely as a good ole fashion duel that may take some time to determine the ultimate winner, but we'll be anxiously monitoring the three "big dogs" as they ponder their next move in this high stakes search engine chess match. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.
How does this impact the major search game? Does this sound the warning siren to Microsoft that maybe they ought to reconsider buying out Yahoo? It makes perfect sense given the fact that Microsoft's search results continue to fall (-12% YOY to a 9.23% share), and Yahoo isn't keeping Google within an eyeshot either although they still maintain a nice share of the search market (23.4%; up 12% YOY). The two of them combined would give Google a little competition, and we, the consumer, would benefit from greater services and advancements in software along with online options as the companies battle it out in the marketplace. If not, Google is going to run off and hide.
Perhaps Yahoo (with a lot of cash to spare) will buy some smaller niche companies to make themselves even more attractive to Microsoft, but I don't believe Microsoft will sit by idly while Yahoo postulates what to do next. It's Microsoft's move to make, and the time to act is now; not a year from now when their collective search share is even lower. Google is a formidable threat to Microsoft, and they aren't going to take a breather just because they've hung up yet another blow out quarter financially and in search. Yahoo has shown they can't keep pace on their own so they're going to need some help if they have any intention of ever catching Google. Google smells blood, and that signals the time to push harder; not back away. YouTube is likely just the beginning of an intriguing acquisition spree for the gang in Mountain View.
Microsoft would be wise to snatch up Yahoo right now after Yahoo posted a rather blah quarter earlier in the week which will shrink their market capitalization a little where Mr. Softy could acquire Yahoo at a "discount." They didn't like the idea of buying Yahoo at $29/share a couple months ago, but they should probably like it at $25.
Yahoo isn't "dead." It's not like they're stinking up the joint (they are still growing albeit much slower), and they do understand the search game which Microsoft hasn't quite yet figured out. It seems to make a logical marriage at this stage of the game.
Bottom line: this is shaping up rather nicely as a good ole fashion duel that may take some time to determine the ultimate winner, but we'll be anxiously monitoring the three "big dogs" as they ponder their next move in this high stakes search engine chess match. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.
SEO India : Google AdSense and AdWords
Many websites include a section or two with the "Ads by Google" above it or below it. These are ads displayed via Google's AdSense. When you do a search on Google and see ads in the search results pages, they are generally AdSense ads.
AdSense - The Yin:
Google's AdSense is programming that "senses" the content of a page or search. It finds keywords on a web page or in a search phrase to determine the subject of the content. It does this by either "reading" the page, or taking a look at the search term that was typed into Google Search. It can "Sense" which ads in the system are relevant to the content or search and display them - thus: "AdSense."
Before ads on a page are displayed, AdSense searches its database of advertisers and finds ads that are associated with keywords on the page or in the search. Now AdSense needs to decide which of the thousands of ads vying for position are actually displayed. To make this decision, AsSense looks at the advertiser's bids for the relevant keywords. The advertisers that have a combination of the highest bid, keyword relevance and best click through get displayed first.
Google tracks clicks on ads and advertisers pay Google the bid price for each click. When the AdSense ad is on someone's web page, Google pays the website owner a portion of the payment for each click. The term "monetizing" your site refers to taking your existing site and placing ads like AdSense on it to make money (or finding other way to make money with websites). If you get 10,000 visitors and 10% of them click an ad that pays you, theoretically, $0.75 per click, you just made $750! Not bad for just copying some AdSense code (which Google provides) into your popular website's HTML (if your site is not popular, learn about SEO - Search Engine Optimization - from sites like AcmeWebResources).
AdWords - The Yang:
The other side to AdSense is AdWords. AdSense ads have lists of relevant keywords associated with them. Each keyword is bid on by the advertisers for placement in the results pages and on web sites around the world. The words that will prompt a display of an advertiser's ad are bid on by the advertiser. When an ad matches the words on a page, the ads are displayed; thus: AdWords. AdWords is the system in Google that is used to place ads that display in AdSense.
You can enroll in AdWords to pay for AdSense ads to drive traffic to your site. The first step is to sign up with Google. The next step is to associate keywords to associate with your site.
The idea is to drive traffic to your site through the use of relevant ads. The more relevant the ad to your content, the more targeted your traffic will be. Compose your articles around your list of keywords. Next, write an ad based on the keywords and assign keywords to the ad. You will bid on the keywords at the time you associate keywords with the ad. If one of your keywords is searched for or relevant to a site, and you have a good bid and relevant ad, your AdWord ad will be displayed. Only when someone clicks your ad are you charged by Google.
The more popular keywords are wanted by many competitors, so the prices per click can get pretty high. It is not uncommon for a click to cost $5 or even $10. If you have 10,000 ad clicks, after you account for your conversion rate (the rate that you convert visitors into buyers) you better be sure you are making more than the ad click costs! But it should never break your bank because you can set the bid limits and the monthly budget.
What if you can't afford $5.00 per click? Since the more popular keywords are so expensive, it is best to bid on less popular keywords because the cost per click is lower. Google presently has a minimum bid of $0.05 per click. If you can get those, you can reduce your advertising budget.
A popular site can make a lot of money, however, a lot of money and time can be wasted. To avoid waste, you have to learn as much as possible and get the right tools to do the research.
AdSense - The Yin:
Google's AdSense is programming that "senses" the content of a page or search. It finds keywords on a web page or in a search phrase to determine the subject of the content. It does this by either "reading" the page, or taking a look at the search term that was typed into Google Search. It can "Sense" which ads in the system are relevant to the content or search and display them - thus: "AdSense."
Before ads on a page are displayed, AdSense searches its database of advertisers and finds ads that are associated with keywords on the page or in the search. Now AdSense needs to decide which of the thousands of ads vying for position are actually displayed. To make this decision, AsSense looks at the advertiser's bids for the relevant keywords. The advertisers that have a combination of the highest bid, keyword relevance and best click through get displayed first.
Google tracks clicks on ads and advertisers pay Google the bid price for each click. When the AdSense ad is on someone's web page, Google pays the website owner a portion of the payment for each click. The term "monetizing" your site refers to taking your existing site and placing ads like AdSense on it to make money (or finding other way to make money with websites). If you get 10,000 visitors and 10% of them click an ad that pays you, theoretically, $0.75 per click, you just made $750! Not bad for just copying some AdSense code (which Google provides) into your popular website's HTML (if your site is not popular, learn about SEO - Search Engine Optimization - from sites like AcmeWebResources).
AdWords - The Yang:
The other side to AdSense is AdWords. AdSense ads have lists of relevant keywords associated with them. Each keyword is bid on by the advertisers for placement in the results pages and on web sites around the world. The words that will prompt a display of an advertiser's ad are bid on by the advertiser. When an ad matches the words on a page, the ads are displayed; thus: AdWords. AdWords is the system in Google that is used to place ads that display in AdSense.
You can enroll in AdWords to pay for AdSense ads to drive traffic to your site. The first step is to sign up with Google. The next step is to associate keywords to associate with your site.
The idea is to drive traffic to your site through the use of relevant ads. The more relevant the ad to your content, the more targeted your traffic will be. Compose your articles around your list of keywords. Next, write an ad based on the keywords and assign keywords to the ad. You will bid on the keywords at the time you associate keywords with the ad. If one of your keywords is searched for or relevant to a site, and you have a good bid and relevant ad, your AdWord ad will be displayed. Only when someone clicks your ad are you charged by Google.
The more popular keywords are wanted by many competitors, so the prices per click can get pretty high. It is not uncommon for a click to cost $5 or even $10. If you have 10,000 ad clicks, after you account for your conversion rate (the rate that you convert visitors into buyers) you better be sure you are making more than the ad click costs! But it should never break your bank because you can set the bid limits and the monthly budget.
What if you can't afford $5.00 per click? Since the more popular keywords are so expensive, it is best to bid on less popular keywords because the cost per click is lower. Google presently has a minimum bid of $0.05 per click. If you can get those, you can reduce your advertising budget.
A popular site can make a lot of money, however, a lot of money and time can be wasted. To avoid waste, you have to learn as much as possible and get the right tools to do the research.
SEO India : Write Title Tags for Your Web Pages
When it comes to search engine optimization, the single most important sentence that you will write for your website is the title tag of your main page. If you write it properly then you will have taken a big step towards getting your site well placed in search engine queries for your important keywords.
Before I give you a step-by-step guide to writing title tags, let's define what they actually are and see why they are important. When you look at a web page in your browser, the writing in the blue strip above browser's commands (file, edit, view, etc.) is the title tag. On your actual html document the title tag is in the head portion between the notation and .
The title tag is important because it "tells" the search engine what the page is about, and in the case of your main page, what your website is all about. I remember back in my school days that we used to take standardized examinations in which we had to read a story and then answer the question: "What would be the best title for this essay?" Choosing a title tag is something like answering this kind of question. You've got to pick out the gist of your enterprise and highlight it in a sentence. So, take a look at your web page and get ready to begin, following these steps:
So, take a look at your website's title tags, and see if you can improve them. The effort that you make will be well rewarded.
Before I give you a step-by-step guide to writing title tags, let's define what they actually are and see why they are important. When you look at a web page in your browser, the writing in the blue strip above browser's commands (file, edit, view, etc.) is the title tag. On your actual html document the title tag is in the head portion between the notation
The title tag is important because it "tells" the search engine what the page is about, and in the case of your main page, what your website is all about. I remember back in my school days that we used to take standardized examinations in which we had to read a story and then answer the question: "What would be the best title for this essay?" Choosing a title tag is something like answering this kind of question. You've got to pick out the gist of your enterprise and highlight it in a sentence. So, take a look at your web page and get ready to begin, following these steps:
| 1. | Make sure your three or four most important keywords or keyword phrases appear in the title tag. The most important words should appear near the beginning of the sentence, and they can be repeated within the sentence for added emphasis. For example, if I am offering low-cost web design, then my title tag might look like this: |
| 2. | Leave your branding and sales pitch for another part of the web page. Although it is a natural tendency to want to put your company name at the beginning of the title tag, you should remember that unless you are very famous like Coca Cola, people are not searching for you. So, put your most important keywords at the front of the title tag, and establish your brand name with your logo and other elements of the web page. If your company name includes your keywords, like our hypothetical Acme Web Design Company, then put it in the title tag, but not necessarily at the beginning. Similarly, the title tag is no place for your sales pitch, so keep out flowery or extraneous adjectives, unless they are actual terms used in searches for your product or service. |
| 3. | Place your geographical or niche-defining term in your title tag. If you are trying for a top ten or top twenty position for a term such as "web design," then you are really in for a difficult struggle. However, suppose the Acme Web Design Company is located in Columbus, Ohio. Then instead of attempting the almost impossible task of getting the top rankings for the term "web design," it would be far better to get a high ranking in the geographical niche using a title tag such "Web Design, Columbus, Ohio: Low Cost Web Design in Columbus, Ohio by The Acme Web Design Company" |
| 4. | The title tag can be longer than you think. Some guidelines say that the title tag should be no longer than 70 characters. It is true that only the first 70 characters will show in the top bar of the browser, but search engine robots will read the rest of the tag and the search engines will not penalize you for going over the 70 character mark. Take a look at highly ranked sites in heavily competitive categories and you will see examples of long title tags. Write the tag according to your need to get your important words and phrases included in a sentence that best describes what your product or service is about. |
| 5. | Vary the title tags on the inner pages of your website. Even with a long title tag, it is not possible to highlight all the possible terms which someone might use to find your website. This is not a problem if you make use of the other pages of your website. Instead of simply having a title tag that says "services" our web design firm could highlight "low cost, web design services" on that page. The "contact" page could be used to emphasize the geographical location once again, and so on. Many websites make the mistake of repeating the same title tag on each of the inner pages of the site. Avoid this and use each of your page's titles to target important keywords and keyword phrases. |
So, take a look at your website's title tags, and see if you can improve them. The effort that you make will be well rewarded.
SEO India : Paid Directory Submission Checklist
Every online business needs traffic, which comes with increased visibility on the web. One great way to get noticed is to get listed in the major directories. Links from good directories increases your site's visibility many fold.
There are thousands of web directories on the net and selecting the good ones to submit your site can be a time consuming task. Also there are free directories and paid directories. You need to submit to both types of directories.
The following checklist is for paid directory submission only. This checklist will help you choose the best and worthwhile paid directories on the net.
Submission Check List:
There are thousands of web directories on the net and selecting the good ones to submit your site can be a time consuming task. Also there are free directories and paid directories. You need to submit to both types of directories.
The following checklist is for paid directory submission only. This checklist will help you choose the best and worthwhile paid directories on the net.
Submission Check List:
- Check out if the directory is indexed in major search engines.
- Check the robots.txt file. Make sure that search engine bots are allowed to crawl the pages where you intend to put your listing. Check the Meta tags to make sure that search engine spiders are not prevented from following links in it. A Meta tag with noindex/nofollow will not be indexed or spidered and links in that page are not followed by bots.
- Check if the directory is being maintained regularly. Visit the directory from time to time to see if errors are getting corrected, site information is getting updated and the like. In short, look for positive activity on the directory.
- Check if the listings in category pages match in theme and content or not. Directories with tight focus on relevant grouping of web sites are useful for visitors and tend to show up frequently in SERPs for keyword searches.
- Check out the age of the directory. Do a whois search (http://www.whois.net) to get this information. Many new directories vanish after a few months due to lack of maintenance and promotion. With older directories you can at least be sure that your listing will remain visible for a reasonable period.
- Check if the directory consists of too many empty categories - it is not useful for visitors and also does not send a too good signal to the SEs about the directory. Think twice before submitting to such directories.
- Check if the contact information is available on the site. Proper businesses will provide you with some kind of contact information.
- Check the Alexa rank of the directory - it is not accurate, yet you can get an idea of traffic the directory receives. Look for directories with decreasing Alexa Rank as it indicates that the directory is getting popular.
- Check if the directory provides SE friendly urls. No JavaScript link or redirection. Also watch out for dynamic urls. Sometimes search engines find it difficult indexing or recognizing dynamic urls with parameters like http://www.&;lt;examplesite>.com/index.html?cat=1&p=12...
An example of SE friendly URL is http://www.hedir.com/business.html - Check whether category pages have too many outgoing links. If your link is one of 100 links on a page, visitors will find it difficult to locate your site.
SEO India : Search Engine and Lead Optimization
The most optimal way for an online Real Estate agent to succeed is thru rapid lead generation and follow up. And in order to escalate your leads, you must start off with an acceptance of your current traffic and lead conversion ratio.
Ask yourself "How many visitors does it take to get to a lead?"
In fact, when we initially interview a potential client often times the conversion is close to a dismal 200:1. Depending on design features, you should really get at the most 50:1. And probably 30:1 is more like it.
Conversion comes from on page conversion optimization & Keyword representation.
On Page Factors
Most people have heard of Search Engine Optimization. Few talk about on page conversion optimization.
First of all, this whole concept pre-supposes that you are starting off with a most wanted action (MWA). Sometimes your MWA is Branding, sometimes it is Leads. And many times it is both lead capture and branding that you are asking your website to do.
If Leads are your goal then your call to action is critical. Other features on your page can distract the viewer from your objectives.
On Page factors that may increase or decrease conversion are:
Asking them to sign up (making your call to action clear)
A Johnson Box (these are those tabled boxes that break up your body copy)
Color can attract or distract
Too many buttons
Animation
Offer Placement. Where are you placing your call to action?
Variety of Call to Action
Frequency of your call to action
These are just a few of the attributes that may help your lead count to go way up.
HappyVille Real Estate
There is a reason that studies have found that Pay per Click search engine results often render poor conversion rates. Specificity.
The reason is that you can only use high volume keywords with pay per click (PPC). These high volume keywords are by their nature generalized. They are also the most profitable for the engine. But what may profit the engine does not always profit you. (Thats not to say that PPC doesn't have its place in a search marketing campaign)
9 times out 10, I am asked to "make my site #1 for "My City real estate". While this is a worthy objective, it is at best very short sighted. Words like "City real estate", "city homes", city condos", are all high volume in just about any city you research.
However, a successful marketing campaign must employ search engine click thrus that are made up of general & specific "streams of traffic". This is because traffic is a comprehensive endeavor. You wouldn't just rent out 1 or 2 of your penthouse units and leave the rest of your 150 unit apartment complex empty? You couldn't expect profitability would you?
However, this is exactly what most agents do when they go after a few high volume words.
Traffic is made up of the combined visits that come from various inquiries into a search engine.
Each inquiry represents a finite amount of possible traffic determined by the placement in the engine, for a particular keyword phrase.
So long story short, a few keywords aren't going to make your business. You need a Universe of words in order to get monster traffic and lead conversion.
Additionally, not all keywords or traffic are created equal. Step out of real estate monetarily and imagine yourself as Jeff Bezos at Amazon.com. What would delite you more?
500 visitors that typed in "Books"? Or 500 visitors that typed in "Harry Potter"? Or better yet, "Harry Potter, Sorcerors Stone"? The more specific you get, conversion goes up and the closer you can get to that elusive 1:1 conversion.
The challenge however, is that the more specific you get with our keywords, the less traffic you get. So you need to represent a large amount of these specific keywords that produce low traffic by themselves. But combined, create a large stream of very convertable traffic.
By optimizing your on page factors and your keywords that drive people to your site, you will take your visitor to conversion ratio down to a respectable number.
Ask yourself "How many visitors does it take to get to a lead?"
In fact, when we initially interview a potential client often times the conversion is close to a dismal 200:1. Depending on design features, you should really get at the most 50:1. And probably 30:1 is more like it.
Conversion comes from on page conversion optimization & Keyword representation.
On Page Factors
Most people have heard of Search Engine Optimization. Few talk about on page conversion optimization.
First of all, this whole concept pre-supposes that you are starting off with a most wanted action (MWA). Sometimes your MWA is Branding, sometimes it is Leads. And many times it is both lead capture and branding that you are asking your website to do.
If Leads are your goal then your call to action is critical. Other features on your page can distract the viewer from your objectives.
On Page factors that may increase or decrease conversion are:
Asking them to sign up (making your call to action clear)
A Johnson Box (these are those tabled boxes that break up your body copy)
Color can attract or distract
Too many buttons
Animation
Offer Placement. Where are you placing your call to action?
Variety of Call to Action
Frequency of your call to action
These are just a few of the attributes that may help your lead count to go way up.
HappyVille Real Estate
There is a reason that studies have found that Pay per Click search engine results often render poor conversion rates. Specificity.
The reason is that you can only use high volume keywords with pay per click (PPC). These high volume keywords are by their nature generalized. They are also the most profitable for the engine. But what may profit the engine does not always profit you. (Thats not to say that PPC doesn't have its place in a search marketing campaign)
9 times out 10, I am asked to "make my site #1 for "My City real estate". While this is a worthy objective, it is at best very short sighted. Words like "City real estate", "city homes", city condos", are all high volume in just about any city you research.
However, a successful marketing campaign must employ search engine click thrus that are made up of general & specific "streams of traffic". This is because traffic is a comprehensive endeavor. You wouldn't just rent out 1 or 2 of your penthouse units and leave the rest of your 150 unit apartment complex empty? You couldn't expect profitability would you?
However, this is exactly what most agents do when they go after a few high volume words.
Traffic is made up of the combined visits that come from various inquiries into a search engine.
Each inquiry represents a finite amount of possible traffic determined by the placement in the engine, for a particular keyword phrase.
So long story short, a few keywords aren't going to make your business. You need a Universe of words in order to get monster traffic and lead conversion.
Additionally, not all keywords or traffic are created equal. Step out of real estate monetarily and imagine yourself as Jeff Bezos at Amazon.com. What would delite you more?
500 visitors that typed in "Books"? Or 500 visitors that typed in "Harry Potter"? Or better yet, "Harry Potter, Sorcerors Stone"? The more specific you get, conversion goes up and the closer you can get to that elusive 1:1 conversion.
The challenge however, is that the more specific you get with our keywords, the less traffic you get. So you need to represent a large amount of these specific keywords that produce low traffic by themselves. But combined, create a large stream of very convertable traffic.
By optimizing your on page factors and your keywords that drive people to your site, you will take your visitor to conversion ratio down to a respectable number.
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