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Actual for You - Search Engine Optimisation - Getting Targeted Traffic
For marketers, publishing your own electronic newsletter can be challenging. Between project deadlines and other things, you've already got a lot on your plate. Then you also have a newsletter to get out every week, month, or quarter. Then it happens . . .You've run completely out of ideas.What do you do?Well, first of all, don't panic. Panicking will just make it worse. Secondly, follow these five guidelines and you'll find yourself coming up with more fresh ideas than you can fit into a dozen newsletters.1. Think TimelyIs there something going on the world that you can tie back in to your business? Keep an eye on the local and national news, especially business trends. Is there something there you can use as a springboard for an article about your business?2. Relate Your Subject to Something ElseEven a subject that has nothing to do with the focus of your newsletter can be fodder for an article. In a recent issue of DM News, copywriter Bob Bly wrote a copywriting article entitled: "Harry Potter and
META TAGS
If you don't know what meta t
As an entrepreneur you are encouraged to get out there and network. Make contacts and start building relationships. Attend networking meetings and promote your business.This sounds like a good idea until you actually arrive at the networking meeting. Then the self-doubt and fear sets in. According to an article in Psychology Today, “48 percent of people identify themselves as shy.” Is it any wonder that networking is difficult for many entrepreneurs?Even if you don’t consider yourself shy, networking is a challenge. How many of us really feel comfortable walking into a room of strangers and starting a conversation? Except for those few souls who love to “work a room,” the rest of us struggle to fit in. We revert back to that little kid on the first day of class at a new school.But, it doesn’t have to be this way. You can learn to feel comfortable networking if you change your outlook. Here are ten tips to help you become more of a social butterfly:1.Understand that most of the people around you are also feeling awkward. Shy people are foc
SEO is about getting free TARGETED traffic. That is folks who are looking for what you've got and finding your site (or eBay store) high in the SE listings, ideally in the top 10.
Here are some basic principles that apply today (they might not apply tomorrow because the SE's don't announce what algorithm they are currently using).
TARGET
Choose it wisely. Think this through before doing anything else. There are 4.7 million results delivered by Google for the word "scrapbook" but only 1.7 million for "scrapbooking" so the latter term has less competition. It's tempting to try to optimise for the big one, "scrapbook" but there are two good reasons not to. Firstly, if you do work hard on that word against fierce competition for some years you might get to the top (might). But how many customers do you want? You might create a monster that you can't handle. Secondly all those currently targeting that word haven't done their homework. "Scrapbooking" has fewer results (less competition) but is searched on more than "scrapbook". The smart operators are targeting "scrapbooking".
That's just an example. Consider too that many people search with phrases, not just single words, so you might target "scrapbooking tutorials". You might get into the top 10 for such a phrase and get solid, targeted traffic that wants what you've got. How about getting to the top for the term "post extenders" or "Sue Dreamer"? Your traffic will be buyers and you want sales, not just traffic for the sake of traffic. So where to get the best keyword data. Thankfully there is one simple answer, www.wordtracker.com. Best in the world and a must when choosing keywords.
PAGES NOT SITES
Search engines index web pages, not web sites. You might like to think that your visitors will all come through your home page. This is not the case. Every single page of your site is an SEO opportunity. You can, and should, therefore have a different title, description, keywords and target content for every page to maximise your traffic. Optimise every page of your site where possible. Some dynamic sites make it impossible so if this is the case add standard pages that you can optimise.
SEARCH ENGINE SPAMMING
Don't. You can get penalised or banned by the SE's. Things like keyword stuffing, white on white text, doorway pages etc., otherwise known as "Black Hat" techniques are for the highly skilled and dodgy operators only. Some make it work short term and usually have multiple sites so when one gets dropped they have others. Unless you want to build and run 10 or 20 sites and work 25 hours a day on them stay away from black hat techniques. All the search engines want to do is deliver the best and most relevant sites to their users. Be the best and most relevant and you'll crack it.
META TAGS
If you don't know what meta t
Over the years I have discovered that many organizations have a variety of policies, products, services, positions, techniques and even people that are what I refer to as 'sacred cows'. In other words - don't mess with them. The people are protected because of their relationship to or with a certain manager or founder or because of their longevity. Many policies or products/services are the creation and of a long-time manager or department and are untouchable.I have not yet worked with or seen an organization that didn't have some sacred cows that need to be re-visited, eliminated or re-designed. I'll bet if you look closely you can find a few in your organization. The questions you need to ask are:1. Is the current culture, internal environment or business conditions consistent with them or do they need to be re-designed?2. Do you have some people that need to be re-trained with different skill sets?3. Do you have positions or departments that are no longer necessary or relevant for whatever reason?4. Are some policies outdated and getting in the way o
That's just an example. Consider too that many people search with phrases, not just single words, so you might target "scrapbooking tutorials". You might get into the top 10 for such a phrase and get solid, targeted traffic that wants what you've got. How about getting to the top for the term "post extenders" or "Sue Dreamer"? Your traffic will be buyers and you want sales, not just traffic for the sake of traffic. So where to get the best keyword data. Thankfully there is one simple answer, www.wordtracker.com. Best in the world and a must when choosing keywords.
PAGES NOT SITES
Search engines index web pages, not web sites. You might like to think that your visitors will all come through your home page. This is not the case. Every single page of your site is an SEO opportunity. You can, and should, therefore have a different title, description, keywords and target content for every page to maximise your traffic. Optimise every page of your site where possible. Some dynamic sites make it impossible so if this is the case add standard pages that you can optimise.
SEARCH ENGINE SPAMMING
Don't. You can get penalised or banned by the SE's. Things like keyword stuffing, white on white text, doorway pages etc., otherwise known as "Black Hat" techniques are for the highly skilled and dodgy operators only. Some make it work short term and usually have multiple sites so when one gets dropped they have others. Unless you want to build and run 10 or 20 sites and work 25 hours a day on them stay away from black hat techniques. All the search engines want to do is deliver the best and most relevant sites to their users. Be the best and most relevant and you'll crack it.
META TAGS
If you don't know what meta t
You can work really hard online and get nothing for your hard work. In fact, that is not the worst case scenario: You can actually work hard on the internet and lose all you have.But that's unfair?Well, life can be harsh if you don't get it.If you must work and get pleasant results, you must work with the right understanding. You must understand the process. You must have the right tools (You need bucks for that). And, yes, you must give it your effort.Let me give you a formula that guarantees online success: Money x Right process x Effort x Time.Now, you can't achieve success on the internet if any of the units in that formula is missing. You can reduce some or all and still get results. However, you can't eliminate any and get anything. This will be in spite of how much of the others you have.If you want it in a very short time, it's possible. There's a process for that. However, it will cost a lot more in cash and effort.There are processes that will dramatically lower your financial outlay. However, they will require more time and effort.If y
That's just an example. Consider too that many people search with phrases, not just single words, so you might target "scrapbooking tutorials". You might get into the top 10 for such a phrase and get solid, targeted traffic that wants what you've got. How about getting to the top for the term "post extenders" or "Sue Dreamer"? Your traffic will be buyers and you want sales, not just traffic for the sake of traffic. So where to get the best keyword data. Thankfully there is one simple answer, www.wordtracker.com. Best in the world and a must when choosing keywords.
PAGES NOT SITES
Search engines index web pages, not web sites. You might like to think that your visitors will all come through your home page. This is not the case. Every single page of your site is an SEO opportunity. You can, and should, therefore have a different title, description, keywords and target content for every page to maximise your traffic. Optimise every page of your site where possible. Some dynamic sites make it impossible so if this is the case add standard pages that you can optimise.
SEARCH ENGINE SPAMMING
Don't. You can get penalised or banned by the SE's. Things like keyword stuffing, white on white text, doorway pages etc., otherwise known as "Black Hat" techniques are for the highly skilled and dodgy operators only. Some make it work short term and usually have multiple sites so when one gets dropped they have others. Unless you want to build and run 10 or 20 sites and work 25 hours a day on them stay away from black hat techniques. All the search engines want to do is deliver the best and most relevant sites to their users. Be the best and most relevant and you'll crack it.
META TAGS
If you don't know what meta t
You can't make informed decisions if the information you're using can't answer your questions.INTRODUCTIONThe report design working group sat around the table, sifting through the draft strategic performance report to suggest how to make it more useful. Measure by measure they chatted and suggested and critiqued and debated: "this one would look better if it was a bar chart", "yeah, I like the three-dimensional bar charts", "we should add another line to this chart because it would be interesting to show", "it's pretty easy to get Excel to turn this one into a stacked bar chart, that way we could get more information onto it". Then someone asked: "hang on, what questions are we trying to answer with these measures anyway?", and there was dead silence.ARE YOU USING THIS KIND OF PERFORMANCE INFORMATION?Performance reports are most commonly filled with a combination of information like the following:- tables of comparisons of this month with last month, this month with the same month last year, year to date with target - the default bar charts that Microsoft Excel
PAGES NOT SITES
Search engines index web pages, not web sites. You might like to think that your visitors will all come through your home page. This is not the case. Every single page of your site is an SEO opportunity. You can, and should, therefore have a different title, description, keywords and target content for every page to maximise your traffic. Optimise every page of your site where possible. Some dynamic sites make it impossible so if this is the case add standard pages that you can optimise.
SEARCH ENGINE SPAMMING
Don't. You can get penalised or banned by the SE's. Things like keyword stuffing, white on white text, doorway pages etc., otherwise known as "Black Hat" techniques are for the highly skilled and dodgy operators only. Some make it work short term and usually have multiple sites so when one gets dropped they have others. Unless you want to build and run 10 or 20 sites and work 25 hours a day on them stay away from black hat techniques. All the search engines want to do is deliver the best and most relevant sites to their users. Be the best and most relevant and you'll crack it.
META TAGS
If you don't know what meta t
When the EEOC sued Ralph Loren because one of their photo shoots needed all blondes in it and denied a brunette an audition, one could conclude that political correctness and employment lawsuits hit an all time low. Swim suit models who were dark haired complained that they did not get the part? Die your hair for the week. They pay over $5,000 per day plus residuals per commercial shown.Does that mean that the Blue Man crew has to hire a guy who auditions in a Devils Suit that is red? Or that if a white actor auditions for the part of Martin Luther King Jr. Doctor and doesn’t get the part he can sue too? I suppose the EEOC is going to sue the rolling stones too? I am sure that Ralph Loren has had photo shoots requiring black women in bikinis too, or brunette only photo shoots. What is the big deal here?Don’t we have better things to do with our time or is the EEOC trying to get its spotlight and grandstanding like the Enron investigators and politicians on C-SPAN. The only reason they even got press was because that was the most ridiculous lawsuit the government has ever made. O
META TAGS
If you don't know what meta tags are click view >> source on any site and you'll see the meta tags near the top of the site code.
TITLE
The most important thing you do is the page title. Similar principle to titles when selling on eBay, your title is critical to your search relevance. It must also be attractive to your audience. It should be between 6 and 12 words. Don't simply repeat your keyword 12 times, it doesn't work and can get you penalised.
DESCRIPTION
I believe this is almost as important as you title. Google uses it. It must contain your keyword(s) or phrases and it must read well and be attractive to users. Optimum length is between 12 and 24 words. It should contain the keyword or phrase that you have targeted in the title.
KEYWORDS
Of little use these days but do it anyway. There should be 7 to 48 words and again included the keyword(s) or phrases that you have in title and description.
HEADER TAGS
In page content coding tags are used to create larger, bolder headings. These are in the form
CONTENT
This should be good, honest, relevant content, well written. There are many theories about keyword density percentages etc. but the fact is if you write good relevant content about say, post extenders then you will be using those words and phrases and if you are writing well for the human user that will be good enough. Make sure that there is plenty of it too. For content pages around 500 to 600 words is good. If you have more than that break it down into more pages and more SE opportunities.
VALID CODE
Search engines like well built sites that are easy to navigate. The SE spiders will be using your internal links to get around your site so simple and easy navigation is important. Also check your code is good by going here http://validator.w3.org/ and here http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
BACKLINKS
I wish this wasn't important but it is. I've seen some very poor sites do very, very well by virtue of the number of backlinks that they have. So, what is a backlink, what make
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