Natural SEO Ranking Obsession

Most Web site owners are obsessed and extremely frustrated with their natural (free) search engine rankings. They want to pull for every word combination someone may use to find them.

Better rankings, “Top 10″ or at least top page of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) are important. It is possible, but not probable for most sites because although the site owners want those rankings they are unwilling to do what is necessary to attain them.

Great search engine rankings don’t happen by osmosis, simply because you want it to, because you are good at your profession or because you think you have a better site than those above you. Even having a great looking site if not planned, structured and written, marketed and grown with rankings in mind — in the first place — will not attain the listings everyone salivates over.

It is what it is folks! You need the code and structure the search engine crawlers can read. You need to be relevant to what you want to be found for — extremely relevant to get on that top page. You need concentrated targeted content that caters to customers and crawlers alike.

Most of all you need to be realistic about the competition and saturation of the market you are trying to penetrate. You have to be prepared to be as aggressive as necessary to reach your goals or it simply doesn’t happen. Without this methodology; you’re lost.

Yes, you can spend time and money looking for “solutions” that negate the facts of how to get great rankings.

But you’ll just be wasting time and throwing good money after bad. The sooner you embrace the reality of what it takes to attain great rankings over the long haul, the sooner you will enjoy ROI.

More Search Engine Rankings with Less?

Organic or natural search engine listings, the free ones you don’t have to pay for, require some strategy and forethought to acquire. One of most important factors when it comes to free search engine rankings is relevancy. To pull on that coveted top page your site has to be one of the most relevant sites pertaining to the search at hand.

When a search is performed, those sites that are deemed the most relevant, at that point in time for the search being performed, will be listed in order of their level of perceived relevancy. Be about a ton of things – you are on page 100; but using the “less is more” methodology you may just be able to get on that coveted top page.

One of the most common misnomers I get approached with on almost a daily basis is the assumption that one’s site should pull on the top page for any term they desire simply because they will it to. First and foremost you have to be realistic and think about why your site deserves to rank higher than those already listed. “Wanting” has nothing to do with rankings unless it is backed up with a long-term consistent proactive strategy to acquire the desired results.

Don’t fall for the hype or misinformation that is so prevalent on this topic. The noise can be overwhelming and confusing when actually the solution is quite simple. When it comes to your search engine rankings, if you remember anything, remember that less is more. The more you are about or try to cram on one page, the less you are relevant for any one thing and the more difficult it will be for you to hope to get on the top page.

Being searchers are looking for one targeted issue, topic, service, or product – you want to determine what those most searched for terms are for your product or service and make sure your site is optimized for those terms. In addition, by simply concentrating on targeted phrases you will benefit from a more targeted site visitor too!

Using your top page as an example, integrating 30-40 “keywords” covering every possibility of how you want to get found does not make you relevant about any one topic. You are a mishmash of 30-40 things – your efforts are clearly diluted by not being solidly about any one thing! Less is more! The pages or sites that are solidly about one single topic that the searcher is seeking will naturally be listed before yours. No way around this – this is the way search engines, for the most part, work.

To try to pull for one word terms is a futile effort at best; the numbers are against you. And to guess what you “think” folks may use is not your most productive approach either. What if the phrases you “think” searchers are using is not what searchers are actually using to find a site like yours? That is why it behooves you to investigate the available data at sites like Google and Yahoo! Search Marketing to see what your potential customers are in fact using before and during the development of your site, and then moving forward as you grow your site.

Begin by rewriting your top page to include no more than one or two of the top phrases your target market is actually using. About 250 words of readable, customer catering verbiage will do. No more! Remember, the more you add, the more you will dilute your efforts. Then for every additional keyword phrase you would like to eventually have hopes to acquire reasonable rankings for, write an article around that topic and give focus to that individual keyword phrase on its very own page. Turn your wealth of information, knowledge and experience into an article archive or Blog! Now that’s how you get rankings!

Moving forward, as topics arise and time allows write a white paper, resource page or article on each topic/phrase you feel is of importance to your site visitors. This approach automatically translates to you improving the chances of your site getting found. Don’t try and fool the search engines with random babbling and incoherent text – you want to have valuable information. Information that serves three critical purposes!

First, having targeted pages makes your site visitors happy because they have found the helpful, useful information they were seeking and will be more likely to contact you. Secondly, valuable information and articles also better your chances of acquiring those cherished inbound one-way links that contribute to your search engine popularity factor (another factor in achieving healthy rankings). And, thirdly, more content combined with the above will naturally help your rankings to improve.

Remember, we don’t care which page your site visitors enter your site through! If you have a quality design and consistent navigation, every single page of your site should be thought of as a potential doorway to the rest of your site. So go take a look at your site now and integrate the “less is more” methodology and watch your rankings turn from less to more too!

Become an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet for Search Engines

Everyone wants top 10 rankings as though just because they wished it that should make it so. Wishing has nothing to do with rankings. Unless you have a genie in a bottle, we all know it simply just doesn’t work that way.

How about I get you thinking differently about this issue?

Don’t Chase Search Engines — Let Them Chase You!

How is that possible?

Become a Search Engine All-You-Can-Eat Buffet!!

I can hear you out there… “Yeah, sure!” Well, it’s not that difficult of a methodology really. All you have to do is think differently than all the hype, amateur Web designers and unscrupulous marketing “gurus” have led you to believe about how getting found works.

First off, what search engines like is fresh content and lots of it; yummy! That’s the fuel for their fire so to speak. So it goes without saying that if you keep adding new content on a regular basis that will encourage search engines to visit your site because you’ll have a fresh buffet of tempting entrées.

How do search engines know you have new content? Certainly not by osmosis!

If you make the effort in the appropriate areas, much of which the costs are minimal, they’ll get a whiff of the appetizing content you have to offer and act like they are at an all-you-can-eat buffet!! Your site will be like Mama’s house on a Sunday afternoon! You know what I mean; dinner smells so good everyone in the house can’t wait to get a plateful! That’s how it goes with search engines and content.

If you don’t have savory content, why should search engines visit you and give you higher rankings over those who serve up a delicious all-you-can-eat Sunday dinner? The answer is they don’t.

The “build it and they will come” way of thinking does not apply to Web sites in this day and age, so everyone needs to wash that concept right out of their hair. All it takes is for you to be prepared to mix, cook and serve. Mix up a new article, cook it to perfection and serve it to the hungry search engines!

That’s not too much to ask to succeed online is it? If it is, well, maybe you should reconsider your online endeavors. If you don’t want to make these efforts, just forget about achieving any decent no charge organic/natural listings. It may be time for you to get involved in PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising.

Now let’s setup your buffet! Start a blog that you post to continually and submit it to all the feed directories. Make sure your blog offers a subscribe feature so visitors get notified by e-mail when you enter a new post. Also offer RSS and podcasting feeds of your blog posts so that visitors can get your information in as many flavors as they choose. See? Your mouthwatering buffet is growing!

Onliners visit your blog and then follow the links to the scrumptious new articles on your site. They like your articles and link to them or post them on their site with a link to yours. Incoming links to your site; lip smacking good!

You also offer an RSS feed of your top articles to get the word out. You add your new articles to your site map. Google checks for your site map XML file and updates its index with your freshly baked content. You add your seasoned articles to quality article banks — more delectable links to your site! Can you see what is happening? We are creating a feeding frenzy!

This interactive medium called the Web is now more interactive than ever. At first when it all began, “interactive” meant some flashing this or moving that. Now interactive means just that; you need to interact and be involved by creating a buffet of your own or you’ll be left in the dumpster by those who do.

One thing is sure; chasing search engine algorithms is a futile effort at best. But when you have the nourishment they want, tasty content, search engines are hungry little bots and it’s hard to keep them away. Food for thought? You bet! Open your own buffet today and feed the beast!

5 Web Site Traffic Tips

I was recently asked “If a new site owner wanted to know how to start increasing traffic to their site, what would be first 5 things you would advise them to do?” Hmmm… As far as I’m concerned it is tough to limit to 5 things because their are literally hundreds of things you can do. Let’s start with the the basics below as a new site starting point for increasing visibility and therefore ROI:

1. Make sure you get listed with the major portals and search engines and then monitor and track your listings to ensure you can react to any changes or drops in positioning. This can take up 6-9 months or more for new sites. Getting listed is one thing; then attaining the top page positions is another that requires various other criteria be met, updated and improved upon continually. It’s called a long term plan. Have a written strategy and follow-up program in place.
2. Request reciprocal links or also called “smart linking” with complimentary sites. Don’t fall for linking schemes or link farms — those will do more harm than good. Many of the top engines use an algorithm that gives your site a popularity boost if you have sites linking TO you. And they can detect linking “programs” in place purely to manipulate search engine rankings. A properly executed linking campaign should be part of your marketing strategy.
3. Advertise your dot com in local newspapers if you are seeking a local market. Advertise in industry publications or topic specific magazines if you are going for a wider audience. Off-line advertising is imperative to building awareness with folks who may be interested in your site but may not have thought to look for you. Relying on Search Engine free/organic listings as your sole venue of exposure is no longer considered a viable business methodology.
4. Offer a content rich valuable newsletter each month and daily postings on your Blog that folks can sign up for and also recommend to their friends. This type of viral marketing has proven to be extremely effective in building awareness for your site. Be careful though, your newsletter and Blog must contain needed, unique and valuable information and not be a hard sell of what you want to commercially gain from. No hypey sales pitchy stuff!
5. Invest the time and the money necessary to reach your goals. This could include a budget for Pay Per Click Campaigns while your site is new and not yet indexed by search engines. (This depends on your market — I’m no longer an across the board fan of PPC services as of late.) Getting found online doesn’t just happen by osmosis and in actuality is getting more complicated each day — and it isn’t free. Ignore the hype out there that makes getting found sound as though all you have to do is have a dot com, stuff in some keywords and millions of Netizens will contact you. Keep in mind there are literally billions of pages online and you have to continually, consistently work at getting exposure – for perpetuity moving forward.

These 5 tips, when integrated properly, can help to produce increased visibility for your program and should be applied with a long term point of view. They are not the end-all-be-all but should be at the nucleolus of any online business’s core strategies. Most importantly realize that online marketing is a never ending effort!

Where Are Thee with the Top Three?

When your site was in development your consultant should have worked with you to determine what the keyword phrases were that your target market would likely use to find a site such as yours. If they didn’t, you now know for a fact that your site is not in a position to have a chance to pull relevantly for your targeted keyword phrases.

See, optimizing a site when working with those who really know what they are doing, begins even before a bit or byte of code is typed. Your top keyword phrases need to be considered during the design process to give you a running start when you launch.

Several times each week I get contacted about why a site isn’t pulling for a phrase that either isn’t searched (or researched) for properly or wasn’t considered during the development process. Time to do some educating on how search engines work and a bit of tweaking on the site to compensate for new targeted phrases!

Ever wonder how you rank with Google, Yahoo and MSN? Check out Marketleap who has some free nifty tools that can help you can get a better idea of even if you are being found by the phrases you want and how the search engines list your site differently.

Then, get to work optimizing your site!

“They Said They Could Get Top 10 Positions for My Site!”

First, who is “they?” “They” are always popping up as the experts on advertising to zeppelins!  I never seem to be able to get an answer when I ask who ” they” is…  Second, “Top 10″ for what? Your specific keywords? Or, phrases “they” deemed “they” could accomplish that for you? Very important distinction folks!

Those of use who do White Hat SEO, which basically means our first priority is to our site visitors needs and experience, then to search engines, realize there is no wave of a wand or snapping of fingers to make Top 10 rankings happen. And, we don’t break or bend rules, use tricks or anything stealthy to satisfy either.

When it comes to Top 10 Positions the bottom line is you need to be strongly about the phrase being searched for. One of the 10 sites/pages amongst the billions out there that are more relevant, important or linked to than any others. Top 10 out of billions — does that put things into perspective?

The way you accomplish Top 10 rankings it to have a long term view and consistently work on your site to be the best it can be in its niche. Write articles, include a Blog (Search engines love Blogs!) and add white papers that all cater to what your target audience wants, needs, desires to know. That’s what makes rankings happen!

Without valuable information, you won’t get the links TO your site that are part of getting into the Top 10. Remember, not just any links will do — all links are NOT created equal.

At the end of the day, be leery, very leery of anyone who promises Top 10 rankings as though it were a matter of flipping a switch, using “stealth” tactics, linking farms or shuffling some keywords. You know better than that!

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