Are you using keywords that give you excellent returns?

Hopefully you already know that traffic is the secret to Internet success. Keywords are the easiest and the most effective way to attract hordes of traffic to your website. Why? Simple. Search engines crawl through your content and pick up your keywords. So, if you happen to use a popular keyword, you will be listed as often as the word is searched.

Next, how many keywords do you need per website? I’d say roughly 80-100! Your Blog or site is a collection of pages and each page should have a different set of unique keywords. The obvious advantage: each of your pages will be working to pull traffic, instead of just the index page or the “About Us” page doing all the work.

Using multiple keyword phrases will give you more numbers of filtered traffic.
Hint: Including your most relevant keyword or keyword phrase in your title works wonders in getting your pages ranked and listed.

So, what’s the secret behind selecting keywords that pull traffic?

Selecting targeted keywords or keyword phrases is a little tricky because of two things:

• You obviously don’t want to use words that nobody is looking for, unless it is a high-priced specialty item. So you have to devise a way to know what ‘phrases’ people are looking for. For example, using a word like ‘natural Isapgol Fiber’ will not pull many hits. Swap it for something like “Diet supplement for speedy weight loss” and you will see a drastic increase in web traffic. Why? Because that is the phrase people search for.
• You need to keep away from the top 10 generic keywords in your niche. Ranking among the top 10 for the most competitive keyword/keyword phrase in your niche may be impossible. For instance, using a keyword phrase like “Make money online” is highly competitive. It is extremely difficult to feature in the top 10 in this category unless you are doing solid work.

So, you want to select a keyword or phrase that gets a decent slice of traffic without being too competitive. A nice keyword that has low advertiser competition is something worthy of exploitation. This way, the keyword bids for paid searches through search engines like Google could be low.

Experts suggest that you should try to build 8-10 websites around certain keywords and go back to those sites that click. You can use a number of tools like Wordtracker or Google Keyword Selection Tool to find the half a dozen or so keywords to optimize for your webpage.

Type in your keyword in the service of choice. This will give you a list of total number of daily searches. Just multiply the figure with 30 for the average figures for a month. Try this with every tool you have, so you can filter your list down to the choicest few.

After that, it is time to dig deeper to collect a crop of related keywords. You can search for your keywords in Google and Yahoo listings. Then, look for keywords and phrases that your competitors are using in their meta tags and articles.

As you can see, keyword research is an important part of your duties if you want to make money online.

Popularity: 31% [?]

You have probably heard and read a lot about the concept of search engine optimization. This is important for all Internet marketers in order to be found by prospective customers online. This is possible through keywords, which are identified through keyword research. Keywords must be relevant to your business since they bring visitors to your website.

For your website to rank high with the search engines that are responsible for bringing focussed traffic, some serious keyword research is essential so that you can find out exactly which ones are used by your visitors. Finding these keywords will also enable you place them in the right locations.

You can shortlist your keywords via brainstorming with peers and friends, competition analysis, and use a keyword research tool for evaluation. What we now want to share with you are crucial criteria to bear in mind when you select keywords to receive targeted website traffic:

• Select key phrases rather than keywords, as you are likely to get better- focussed traffic and appear in more specific results
• Keywords must be related to your website and be relevant to your product or service on offer
• The more specific the keywords, the better the chances of prospective customers visiting your website and the lesser the chances of facing competition
• Pay attention to the variation of keywords used in different locations across the world. Accordingly web pages must be optimized for the audience. The English say ‘lift’ while the Americans call it an elevator - so take care to use the right ones at the appropriate domains.
• You primary keyword can be used for website optimization. The secondary keywords can be used to draw traffic.
• Remember that keyword research tools are effective, but your own knowledge also counts just as much.
• The final keyword list must be tested. This may seem like a tedious process, but it is necessary in order to enable you finalize a list that is effective and ranks well with the search engines
• A variety of relevant keywords is more effective than the same keyword being used over and over.
• Keywords must be located in the title tags, header tags, ALT tags, anchor text, URLs, meta tags and comments. There are efficient tools that help by suggesting the best ways to do this.
• Also add keywords that are spelt slightly differently by users to your list since they are equally responsible for traffic
• By including a site search function on your website you will be able to monitor the keywords being used by your visitors, as well as making it easy for them to navigate your site.
• There are keywords that have a high search rate even though they are low in terms of competition. These keywords are just as important.

To be successful, keywords must have a high conversion rate. This means you must be able to turn your visitors into customers.

Popularity: 23% [?]

So, you’ve done everything from building a dapper website to creating rich content. Members have started trickling in and you feel jubilant.

What should you do next? Sit back and gloat, or look for ways to multiply your income, easily and quickly? If you’ve chosen the latter, as I’m sure you did, I have the perfect solution for you: Viral Marketing.

Viral marketing is marketing that spreads news of your website at the same speed as a virus rushing unchecked and undetected on the Internet. It is quick, effective and easy.

• Attract search engines: Using keywords effectively has been the age-old formula for attracting people searching for information. However, there is a new twist to this old game. Instead of using keywords, use keyword phrases. These phrases should be two to three words in length, should explain your business aptly and succinctly and be placed in all the right places like the page title, meta description, alt tags, headers and meta keywords. Paid ads in important search engines are a very good way to attract traffic. Why pay when you can get it free? In the world of online business, walk-in customers are many but only a few of them convert to paying customers. To succeed, take measures to ensure that the maximum number of people visit your website. This way, you will get traffic large enough to attract that small percentage of buyers who will make you a handsome profit.
• Put up some free stuff: These days, you get to see so many websites offering free e-cards, free e-books or free web hosting. Why? Viral marketing, of course. A good free e-card will find its way to a large number of people. This will pull in more visitors and a few of them may browse through the paid section and buy. Do you see the logic here?
• Hold contests, games and quizzes on your website. For instance, you often see end-of-the-year poetry contests on several poetry websites. Every time an aspiring poet sends in a poem, a new prospective client is spotted.
• Spread the word: Did you know that the ever-so-common ‘Tell a friend’ link can double your traffic? Suppose you read something that you like, and you feel that a close friend or relative might benefit from the knowledge, what do you do? Tell a friend! There are other ways to spread the word. Be sure to add a link to your website in all your printed material. Send out regular ezines and newsletters.
• Blog it: Blogs are the easiest way to lend a human touch to your website. Blogs give you permission to speak about yourself, your values and your hopes. This allows visitors to get to know you personally. Blogs encourage new ideas and discussion threads, which will give you ideas for new paying products.
• Offer a discount: use an auction site to auction off a limited number of memberships at a reduced cost. This is a great way to pull in those people who are sitting on the wall. Even if customers don’t buy right away, your website’s name will register and stick.
• Exchange links: Search engines love websites that network. Solicit and offer links. This will boost your traffic almost immediately. Make sure that your website has a link resources page, which makes it easy for others to set up their links with you.

Following these techniques will help you build a flood of traffic. Once your traffic picks up, it is only a matter of time before your paid membership site starts grossing money.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Two excellent reasons for search engine optimization are: high rankings with the search engines, increased traffic, letting your visitors find you easily and of course, profits.

A short note on keywords here - be ready with your list of keywords and key phrases. Basic search engine optimization starts with keyword location. Here are some tips on where to place keywords:

1. Title tag - to help the search engine know what the page is about. Title tag is right at the top of your page within the ‘head’ tags. Placing the keyword here will attract focussed traffic to your website. Since it is the text in the title tag that is visible to the traffic, use the text keyword there.
2. The keywords you use in the anchor text must be the ones used to link to that page with other pages on your website. Try and link as many keywords as possible to a specific page
3. The text in the title tag must also appear in the body of the page so that the search engines know that it relates to the title. It will also let your traffic know that they are in the right place for the info they are looking for. The same keywords must be used in the text of the content on the page.
4. Avoid using the same title tag on all pages of your website. If you do this, the search engines will assume that all pages are identical and wont index them. Use the headline of your page as the title tag. This will tell the search engines what the page pertains to and index it.
5. Keyword stuffing is bad practice. Spamming the description or keyword meta tag must also be avoided.
6. Forget about link farms - search engines don’t approve of them. when you link to another site, you must make sure that the content is complementary and relates to your site.
7. In your navigation menu, put links instead of images - search engines cannot read images. Instead, use keywords in these links so that when your visitor has the mouse over these links the title of the link is visible to them.
8. If you have to have images, describe them with the alt tag. Search engines will find it easy to index these images and find your page. it will also help view your website in any browser.
9. Preferably go for manually submitting your website to the search engines. The use of submission software could make you end up paying a penalty or even getting banned. Once submitted, the search engine robots will follow your links and index your website.

You must also use your keywords in domain name, file names and folders. Make sure you have a site map for your website for easy navigation. Good content goes without saying.

Popularity: 29% [?]

If you’re just starting out in the AdSense money-making business, you might wonder what all the talk about website optimization is about. It has definitely created a buzz with e-businesses all across cyberspace- but what is this hullabaloo about? Why is website optimization so important?

To understand, first think of your website as an ordinary store on a street. Now imagine that you are surrounded by millions of other stores, just like yours. If you don’t advertise your presence and drive traffic to your store, nobody will even know you exist. This is precisely what website optimization does- it makes your website visible on the ‘online street’ and brings potential customers your way.

The Tricky Part

Because of the nature of internet, there is a variety of web optimization tools that you need to use to drive traffic to your website. This is where things get a little tricky- if you use these tools aggressively, your site will be labeled as spam. This could lead to blacklisting by search engines, which is the primary way to drive traffic to your website. Blacklisting is the worst thing that could happen to a website and has led to the end of many e-businesses.

Hence, it’s essential to use web optimization to its maximum abilities but without overstepping the rules. Here are some tips to get the most effective website optimization for your site.

• Make sure that your content is rich in popular AdSense keywords. At the same time ensure that the content is coherent- if a potential customer can’t make sense of your site, he will leave pretty quickly.
• Also remember that the more pages of keyword-rich content you have, the higher your page-ranking will be with the search engines. Make sure that these pages all link to each other and are optimized with the appropriate tags.
• Add meta-tags to your site, like this.
  META NAME=”description” CONTENT=”xxxDescriptionxxx”
  META NAME=”keywords” CONTENT=”xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxxx”
  META NAME=”robots” CONTENT=”FOLLOW,INDEX”
  In the ‘ xxxDescriptionxxx’ area, give a brief description of your website. In the ‘ xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxxx’ place your keywords or phrases. For example, if your website is about ‘credit’, then enter words like ‘credit’, ‘debt repair’ make sure that you separate the words with commas.
• Include some auto-updating material on your website. This could be something as simple as a quote which changes every day, current news headlines or weather updates.

Popularity: 28% [?]

So much time is spent on constructing a website that is optimized to the search engines. But not everyone pays equal attention to the images on the website. We do think in terms of meta tags and title tags; however, did you know that by optimizing the images on your website, you can enjoy even more focussed traffic? Also, your visitors will have a better experience on your website.

Major advantages with optimized images are:

• Reduced page load time

With this in mind, lets take a look at what you need to pay attention to while optimizing images:

Name of the file

Consider this - is 8946.jpg better or is redrose.jpg better? Remember, when you name the picture file appropriately and this name relates to the image, people doing image searches will find it easier to reach your site. It is also easier for Google to bring your website up in the search result. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Size and quality of image

This is a delicate one. Your image must not only be of the right size but also be of good quality. If the image quality is low, the page takes less time to load but might get a low rank in image searches resulting in visitors not finding you at all. If the image quality is high, the image search rankings are high, but the page takes time to load, in which case if your visitor has a slow connection, they might not want to wait all that time.

Can you strike a balance here? Yes you can. Here’s what you do. Have small images of low quality that can be clicked to the high quality image. This means quick page loads, your visitors knows what the image is and also have the option of clicking on the image to see the bigger version. This way, your image search ranking stays high. So have thumbnail images with a description of the item and link this to the high quality image for those who want a better look.

Text

It is mandatory for all images to have a short alt text to describe the image. It is this alt text that the search engines use to know what your image is about. This helps them direct traffic to your website via image search. For disabled visitors using screen readers, alt text tells them the content of the image.

Captions

The text around the image and the caption must be indicative of what the image is. You can’t have an image that has nothing to do with the text around it. Google does not like it, either.

Text in the images?

Forget about text in the images unless absolutely unavoidable. The best text is that which the search engine spiders and screen readers can read. If you must have text, use CSS to create a background, so that even though it looks like a part of the image, it is actually part of the html and the text is also visible.

Popularity: 12% [?]