SEO
Why SEO Is Essential To Success For Beginners In Internet Marketing?
SEO is one of the most basic concepts you'll have to learn as a beginner in internet marketing. SEO is well accepted as a contributory factor to how an internet marketing business will fare and as such, is widely considered as the first step in ensuring the survival of your website and the success of your efforts. So what does SEO mean for you as an internet marketer? More importantly, how can you harness its possibilities and turn it to your advantage? Here's how to use SEO successfully for all you beginners in internet marketing:
SEO and all that
SEO is Search Engine Optimization, the process of optimizing a website through improvement of design and content with the sole purpose of increasing the amount of traffic it receives. This is because a site that is optimized is more likely to appear high on a search engine results page.
Although the practice of SEO can vary in style and intensity, for most beginners in internet marketing, it is the key with which they can open many doors to recognition, relevance and popularity. Applying SEO standards and concepts to an internet marketing website can be a bit daunting to many beginners, particularly if they don’t know where to start. However, understanding how SEO affects your site and how easily your intended audience and customers can find you will help design an effective optimization campaign.
Why you need SEO
Let's face it – as a beginner in internet marketing, you probably have a few contacts here and there but generally don’t have the market presence that will keep you ahead of your competition. Remember that internet marketing is a rapidly growing industry and as it expands, the tougher the competition becomes. This is why if you choose to do business online, you have to play by the rules that govern the Internet.
Majority of the traffic that matters to your internet marketing business is generated through the biggest search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AskJeeves and even the Google-powered AOL. That means if your website does not make an appearance in any of these websites, you are seriously handicapped. There is a vast world of opportunities out there that Web searches can provide that you are missing on.
Unless you find a way to drive traffic to your site through ads and your own tireless promotions, your best bet is to use search engines to help get the word out there about your internet marketing business. Remember that you're a beginner and that you'll need extra effort to get recognized.
How is SEO done?
To understand how SEO can help you as an internet marketing beginner, it's important to know how it works. There are certain mechanisms that contribute to how search engines come up with search results but at the heart of it all is the keyword or keyphrase. These are words used by Web surfers to make search queries to look for products, services and related information. It can be anything – names of people, places, events, brands, companies. Very often, it will include a description, which helps narrow down the search.
The goal of a website is to earn enough popularity and relevance in major search engines and they can do this by ensuring that their content is optimized. A website selling handmade herbal soaps, for example, should appear high on a search engine results page when people type the keywords 'soaps', 'herbal soaps' or 'handmade soaps'.
To apply SEO to your internet marketing business, consider using important keywords and key phrases that are relevant to your site. However, remember that not all keywords that may have any relation to your business can bring in the right traffic. Instead, consider only keywords that will attract people who will then click on the link to your website and make use of your products or services.
Why content is king
As a beginner in internet marketing, you'll find that the easiest means to take advantage of SEO is to produce content that is not only relevant but also useful. This is beneficial for two reasons: the content has enough relevance to be indexed by search engine spiders or electronic robots and it also offers information that users will find valuable (and thus promote your link to other people).
Search engines constantly send out their crawlers to search out Web content and index these. So if you have a website that's been operative for some time, chances are it has been 'crawled' already. Each time someone does a search, the search engine grabs information from the index and posts it on the results page. This is where SEO plays a major role.
Without SEO, there is very minimal chance that the link to your website will appear on a search engine page. You just don’t have enough popularity or relevance to make it. However, if you have used SEO principles to optimize your content, you'll understand why you appear high on search engine pages and have a good volume of targeted traffic that, ultimately, can help power your internet marketing business.
Incoming Links to your Site!
Search engine ranking formulas, known as "algorithms", rank sites higher the more links they have that point to their website. Links are considered a kind of recommendation that a site is relevant, worth visiting. But getting links from sites that Google considers trustworthy isn't easy. Start by submitting your site to various directories. Provide great content on your site that is worth linking to. Write articles that others would want to host on their sites, each with a link back to yours. Some use blogging to get links. Perhaps the most difficult approach is to exchange links with websites in your industry, called "reciprocal linking." It is inexpensive, but takes patience and constant work.
Search engine optimization will take several months to get traffic flowing well, but don't skip this step just because you're in a hurry. I consider SEO the essential foundation for Internet marketing. It's well worth the time you spend optimizing your website or the money you spend outsourcing the project to a competent SEO company. When you're ready to dig deeper, get my book Guide to Search Engine Optimization (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/seo.htm), which will fill in the details.
WebPage Optimization!
Basically, webpage optimization involves setting up each of your webpages so that it can be easily "understood" and indexed by the search engine robots or "spiders" that come calling.
Each webpage (except your homepage, of course) should be clearly focused on just a single topic. The more focused the better. Then you give the search engines spiders clues to the nature of this focus. The strategy is to use the main keywords for that page in the title tag, description metatag, headline or subheadings, and in your body text. You don't stuff keywords everywhere; just make sure that you're leaving a clear trail of clues as to the content. But webpage optimization is just half of the equation. The other half, and the harder task, is getting ...
Search Engine Traffic Is the Cheapest and Best! SEO!
Far and away, the least expensive traffic you'll ever have to your site will come through the "natural" or "organic" search results on Google or Yahoo. To get traffic to your site for the search words or keywords that are important to your organization, you need to do what is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
Fortunately, this is something that the average small business owner or staff person can do himself or herself. Yes, it takes time and knowledge. But it doesn't have to take much money that is, unless you are trying to rank high for very competitive keywords.
SEO has two parts, each equally important: (1) webpage optimization and (2) getting links back to your website.
SEO is one of the most basic concepts you'll have to learn as a beginner in internet marketing. SEO is well accepted as a contributory factor to how an internet marketing business will fare and as such, is widely considered as the first step in ensuring the survival of your website and the success of your efforts. So what does SEO mean for you as an internet marketer? More importantly, how can you harness its possibilities and turn it to your advantage? Here's how to use SEO successfully for all you beginners in internet marketing:
SEO and all that
SEO is Search Engine Optimization, the process of optimizing a website through improvement of design and content with the sole purpose of increasing the amount of traffic it receives. This is because a site that is optimized is more likely to appear high on a search engine results page.
Although the practice of SEO can vary in style and intensity, for most beginners in internet marketing, it is the key with which they can open many doors to recognition, relevance and popularity. Applying SEO standards and concepts to an internet marketing website can be a bit daunting to many beginners, particularly if they don’t know where to start. However, understanding how SEO affects your site and how easily your intended audience and customers can find you will help design an effective optimization campaign.
Why you need SEO
Let's face it – as a beginner in internet marketing, you probably have a few contacts here and there but generally don’t have the market presence that will keep you ahead of your competition. Remember that internet marketing is a rapidly growing industry and as it expands, the tougher the competition becomes. This is why if you choose to do business online, you have to play by the rules that govern the Internet.
Majority of the traffic that matters to your internet marketing business is generated through the biggest search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AskJeeves and even the Google-powered AOL. That means if your website does not make an appearance in any of these websites, you are seriously handicapped. There is a vast world of opportunities out there that Web searches can provide that you are missing on.
Unless you find a way to drive traffic to your site through ads and your own tireless promotions, your best bet is to use search engines to help get the word out there about your internet marketing business. Remember that you're a beginner and that you'll need extra effort to get recognized.
How is SEO done?
To understand how SEO can help you as an internet marketing beginner, it's important to know how it works. There are certain mechanisms that contribute to how search engines come up with search results but at the heart of it all is the keyword or keyphrase. These are words used by Web surfers to make search queries to look for products, services and related information. It can be anything – names of people, places, events, brands, companies. Very often, it will include a description, which helps narrow down the search.
The goal of a website is to earn enough popularity and relevance in major search engines and they can do this by ensuring that their content is optimized. A website selling handmade herbal soaps, for example, should appear high on a search engine results page when people type the keywords 'soaps', 'herbal soaps' or 'handmade soaps'.
To apply SEO to your internet marketing business, consider using important keywords and key phrases that are relevant to your site. However, remember that not all keywords that may have any relation to your business can bring in the right traffic. Instead, consider only keywords that will attract people who will then click on the link to your website and make use of your products or services.
Why content is king
As a beginner in internet marketing, you'll find that the easiest means to take advantage of SEO is to produce content that is not only relevant but also useful. This is beneficial for two reasons: the content has enough relevance to be indexed by search engine spiders or electronic robots and it also offers information that users will find valuable (and thus promote your link to other people).
Search engines constantly send out their crawlers to search out Web content and index these. So if you have a website that's been operative for some time, chances are it has been 'crawled' already. Each time someone does a search, the search engine grabs information from the index and posts it on the results page. This is where SEO plays a major role.
Without SEO, there is very minimal chance that the link to your website will appear on a search engine page. You just don’t have enough popularity or relevance to make it. However, if you have used SEO principles to optimize your content, you'll understand why you appear high on search engine pages and have a good volume of targeted traffic that, ultimately, can help power your internet marketing business.
Incoming Links to your Site!
Search engine ranking formulas, known as "algorithms", rank sites higher the more links they have that point to their website. Links are considered a kind of recommendation that a site is relevant, worth visiting. But getting links from sites that Google considers trustworthy isn't easy. Start by submitting your site to various directories. Provide great content on your site that is worth linking to. Write articles that others would want to host on their sites, each with a link back to yours. Some use blogging to get links. Perhaps the most difficult approach is to exchange links with websites in your industry, called "reciprocal linking." It is inexpensive, but takes patience and constant work.
Search engine optimization will take several months to get traffic flowing well, but don't skip this step just because you're in a hurry. I consider SEO the essential foundation for Internet marketing. It's well worth the time you spend optimizing your website or the money you spend outsourcing the project to a competent SEO company. When you're ready to dig deeper, get my book Guide to Search Engine Optimization (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/seo.htm), which will fill in the details.
WebPage Optimization!
Basically, webpage optimization involves setting up each of your webpages so that it can be easily "understood" and indexed by the search engine robots or "spiders" that come calling.
Each webpage (except your homepage, of course) should be clearly focused on just a single topic. The more focused the better. Then you give the search engines spiders clues to the nature of this focus. The strategy is to use the main keywords for that page in the title tag, description metatag, headline or subheadings, and in your body text. You don't stuff keywords everywhere; just make sure that you're leaving a clear trail of clues as to the content. But webpage optimization is just half of the equation. The other half, and the harder task, is getting ...
Search Engine Traffic Is the Cheapest and Best! SEO!
Far and away, the least expensive traffic you'll ever have to your site will come through the "natural" or "organic" search results on Google or Yahoo. To get traffic to your site for the search words or keywords that are important to your organization, you need to do what is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
Fortunately, this is something that the average small business owner or staff person can do himself or herself. Yes, it takes time and knowledge. But it doesn't have to take much money that is, unless you are trying to rank high for very competitive keywords.
SEO has two parts, each equally important: (1) webpage optimization and (2) getting links back to your website.
Is Over-optimization Possible? Over-optimizing an image is not only possible, it's fairly easy to do. Some very conscientious authors hammer a GIF file until they have reduced its number of colors to an absolute mathematical minimum -- often no more than 4 colors, or 8. The resulting image is perfectly optimized, from the perspective of performance and load time. From an aesthetic point of view, however, the image has been rendered useless. When viewed on PCs with minimalist color or monochrome video drivers, these over-optimized images can render as solid black blobs. Transmitting any graphic only to have it render as a solid box on a reader's screen is a waste of two very precious resources: Internet bandwidth and the reader's time. In general, once color depth is forced below 16 colors, image rendering becomes totally unpredictable. And the tiny difference in file sizes between 4 colors and 16 colors just isn't worth the risk. The moral of the story: Never drop an image below 16 colors.