Put Your Business on the Web
the RIGHT Way!

Understanding Search Engines

Understanding Search Engines Building a successful web business is largely dependent on how well your site ranks in the search engines.

Sure, there are various ways to drive traffic to your site, and you should explore them all, but nothing beats the free, motivated and targeted traffic that search engines are capable of delivering to your site.

You can of course buy search engine traffic via Pay-per-Click advertising such as Google AdWords, but your visitors are more likely to consider your site a creditable resource if they found it in the non-sponsored listings.

Previously in this guide I talked about the importance of keyword research. Getting found in the search engines is all about ranking highly for specific queries. If you've done your keyword research you will have come up with a list of keywords with a favourable demand/supply ratio using tools such as Keywords Analyzer and Wordtracker.

For your home page you should be targeting around 5 main keyword phrases. It’s possible to rank well for more than 5 but it’s better to focus your efforts on a few select phrases. Your main keyword phrase should:

be specific to what you do or sell
not be too broad
have a decent amount of searches but not too much competition

For example, for my site Web Business Solutions site I chose not to target "web design". Although there are a huge number of searches done each month, there is just too much competition. Plus, what are people looking for when they search for "web design"? Are they looking for an effective way to put their business online or do they want to learn HTML?

As you can see, it's too broad. Visitors could be looking for a variety of things, many of which I can't help them with. Instead, I targeted phrases such as “create small business website” Much less competition but still good search volume, and much more targeted visitors.

For the interior pages of your site you should target more specific “long tail” keywords, with each page targeting a specific keyword phrase. A good strategy is to pick off the "low hanging fruit" first. In other words build a page which targets a very low competition keyword phrase. It will be much easier to rank well for and although it may not bring you a large volume of traffic for that keyword phrase, what you get will be very targeted.

Then, build another page which targets another low-competition keyword. And then another. Each page won't bring a lot of traffic by itself, but taken as a whole.... Well, you see what I'm getting at!

The Basics of Search Engine Optimisation

This isn't really a course on SEO (I'll give you a link in the Resources section to download a very good course) so I'll just cover the basics. In many cases, it's all you will need. Try not to get too caught up in SEO to the point where it rules your life. Well, your online life at least! Once the basics are taken care of, spend your time building more content for your site. Good content is what your visitors want and it's what the search engines aim to deliver. So help them, and they'll help you. More content means more keyword combinations, and that means more opportunities to be found.

Think about it, search engines live or die by the quality of the search results they deliver. If a searcher finds poor quality, low value sites when they search, they'll use another search engine.

Optimising Your Site

Basically, there are two equally important factors. On-page and off-page.

On-Page Factors

These are factors related to the way your page is constructed. This simply means you need to include your targeted keywords in:

the page title
the heading (H1 tag)
meta description tag (special code which search engines use to display a description of your site in search results)
outbound links
internal links
the body (visible) text on your page (no need to overdo it, just use your keywords in a natural manner)
bold and italicised text
the file name
meta keywords tag (largely ignored or not given great relevance by most engines anymore but in some instances can be useful e.g. misspellings)

However your biggest on-page factor is of course your content. Write great content, update it frequently and make your site an authority for your niche.

IMPORTANT: Don't overuse the keywords you are targeting. This can have a negative effect on your rankings. Instead, include words which are related to the words you are targeting. Wordtracker’s Keyword Universe is great for this.

Off-Page Factors

This is mainly to do with incoming links to your site. Search engines track how many sites link to you, who links to you, how they link to you and even who links to the sites which link to you!

But, not all links are created equal. Some links will pass a lot of value and raise your trust with the engines. Other links will be practically worthless. The more links from good quality, trusted, highly regarded and related pages to your site, the more relevant the engines will see your site for the keywords you are targeting.

Here are some linking strategies that have generally worked for me. Most SEO consultants agree that one-way (non-reciprocated) links from good quality, trustworthy, related sites will be the most effective. That's not to say that reciprocal linking should be discarded altogether, at least not in my view. The key factors are user experience, relevance, quality and trust, not reciprocation.

Directory Listings

Sometimes free, and other times you'll pay, but directory listings are still an effective way to establish good quality, relevant inbound links. Yahoo! is still the Big Daddy of directories.

Some argue that a Yahoo! directory listing will send you very little direct traffic given its rather steep cost. This is true, but Google in particular still regard a Yahoo! directory listing as a high value link.

Why?

It's human-edited and inclusion is not automatic. This adds editorial discretion to your listing which establishes trust. Worth the cost.

Another high-value directory listing is the Open Directory Project (also known as DMOZ).

Again, your submission is reviewed by a human editor before inclusion. The problem with the ODP is that it is run by volunteers (submission is free) and because of that it can take from a few weeks to 6 months and beyond (in some cases never) to get your site included. I would gladly pay for a review to expedite the process, but all you can do is submit your site and wait.

The ODP can be very frustrating. You won’t even get a confirmation that your site has been accepted. But it's still a must-do.

Other recommended pay-for-inclusion directories:

Free directories aren’t as valuable as the paid ones, but still worthwhile. I wouldn’t devote a lot of time to submitting to free directories. There are actually thousands of directories where you can submit your site for free. Locating and submitting to them can be very time consuming, but SEO expert Brad Callen has made the task considerably easier with his free Directory Submitter software.

For other paid directories, check that they have good Google PageRank (download the Google Toolbar to do this) and make sure the page your listing will be on is indexed by Google and preferably has some PageRank.

What is PageRank? It is a formula developed by Google to rank web pages. Google’s toolbar provides an approximation of a web page’s PageRank.

The toolbar PageRank, expressed as number from 0 – 10, isn’t the real PageRank which Google use to rank your site. It’s only a visual representation of the “importance” of that particular page, which is based on which pages link to it, and is only updated several times a year. Don’t worry too much about toolbar PageRank, just use it as a basic indicator of how well linked a particular site is.

Also, when choosing directories to submit to, make sure that the link to your site will be direct (check other links - if you see a ? in the URL this is not a direct link). Like Yahoo and ODP, choose directories where there is editorial discretion in accepting your site. This enhances your site's "trust" with Google. Most of these 2nd tier directories charge between $30 - $100 for a review.

Articles

Write and submit articles to resource sites such as GoArticles and EzineArticles.

You'll get a link from that site plus links from webmasters and e-zine publishers who use your article. You'll also be promoting yourself as an expert in your field. I don't advise submitting your article to multiple directories at once. This could result in a sudden influx of links to your site which Google could see as unnatural. It is better to build your links gradually over time.

To learn more about article marketing Chris Knight from EzineArticles has created an excellent guide.

Testimonials

Write testimonials on products you've purchased (good ones of course) and send them to the respective webmasters. Use their contact forms or you could even snail-mail them. Tell them you're happy for them to publish your testimonial but would they mind including a link back to your site.

Post to Discussion Forums and Blogs

Many forums and blogs allow you to include a link to your site when you make a post or add a comment to a blog. Never spam by making a post that is a thinly disguised ad or you'll find yourself unwelcome on that forum. Contribute to the discussion by posting helpful advice and on-topic comments.

It’s preferable to submit your comments to forums and blogs which are related to the theme of your site. Some SEOs believe that a link from a .edu website carries more link value than normal.

Social Bookmarking Sites

These are sites which members use to bookmark sites they like and share those bookmarks with other users. Just do a search for "social bookmarking" at Google and you'll turn up dozens of sites. Be careful how you use social bookmarking - some webmasters are very sensitive to what they perceive as spam. Look at the sites which are being bookmarked and you'll get an idea of whether it would be appropriate to include your site.

I find a good strategy with bookmarking is to create a theme page where your site is at the top of a list of sites related to yours. Bookmark sites which aren't direct competitors (government, resources etc) but whose content would be of interest to your customers.

Recommended Bookmarking Sites:

Link Exchanges

Some people argue that link exchanging is dead. That may be true if done the old way of simply amassing as many links as possible from any site willing to exchange with you. I don't believe link exchanging is dead at all, as long as you do it correctly and it is not the only method you use to acquire links. In other words, use it as part of your link building strategy, not your entire strategy.

Exchange links only with related, complimentary, good quality, trustworthy sites and build your links in a natural, progressive manner. Try to get your link partners to exchange content rather than just links.

For example, exchange unique articles with a single link within the body of the article. This will be far more value to both partners (for search engines and visitors) than yet another link on a page with 50 other links and no useful content. This won't be easy. Most webmasters are set in the old ways, but it will be worth it in the long run despite the extra effort involved.

Use link exchanging with caution. Google’s Matt Cutts has specifically stated that excessive link exchanging can get your site penalised. What is excessive? It’s a judgement call, but if you build your links with users in mind, and not search engines, you’ll usually manage to stay in Google’s good books.

Above all, use common sense. Penalties usually happen when a human examines your site and determines that you are trying to game the search engines.

Rule of thumb: exchange links as if search engines did not exist.

SiteSell's Value Exchange offers a good way to connect with webmasters in search of related, value-added partners.

Web 2.0

Another excellent way to build links and direct traffic to your site is by interacting with online communities known as “Web 2.0”.

What is Web 2.0? In a nutshell, it’s all about user-generated content. Some well-known examples are MySpace, YouTube and FaceBook.

Web 2.0 is more than just a buzzword. The Authority Black Book will explain all, and it’s FREE!

For more info on Web 2.0 link building, SEO and marketing:

Web 2.0 Marketing Strategies
Web 2.0 Traffic Stampede
Social Power Linking (highly recommended)

The SEO Mindset

The SEO Mindset is a comprehensive 127 page guide on long-term strategies for getting and keeping top rankings in the search engines. Written by search engine expert Brad Callen it covers pretty much everything you need to know about SEO.

Next - Promoting Your Site

Course Home - Create a Small Business Website : Contact : Privacy