If you're trying to sell a product or a service on the Internet, you need to get your sales messages across. You need traffic. But keep in mind, you don't just need traffic - you need targeted traffic!
And one of the best ways of getting targeted traffic is - and has always been - to get a high listing in the search engines.
Getting a high listing in the search engines, means that you list high on a particular set of keywords being searched for. Confused? Let's go through this step by step.
What is a search engine, and what is a keyword?
This may seem elementary to you, but stay focused for one minute. It always pay off to look at things ar the simplest level.
A search engine is software (a spider) that looks for pages on the web, and then indexes these pages for future reference.
All pages are read by the spiders (search engine software), and are catalogued by keywords.
When a surfer does a search on a search engine search page, he or she enters one or more keywords on the subject they're looking for. Let's say you're looking for cheap hotel rooms in Paris - you would then enter the keywords "cheap", "hotel", "room" and "Paris".
If you're selling hotel rooms in Paris, you want your web page to be listed on the result page of that particular search, right? Of course...it would be great if your hotel's URL would pop up in front of someone who's looking for exactly what you're offering.
But.
You need to be in the top 3 result pages!
If you're not, surfer's won't see your link, and they will never visit your page.
So, the question is: How do you get a high search engine ranking?
Well, let's look at some typical mistakes, and see what we can learn from those. Here are 7 typical mistakes you don't want to make if you're trying to get a high ranking in the search engines:
Mistake #1: Believing that if you place keywords in your meta-tags, you will get a high ranking.
Too many still believe this. But face up to it once and for all: placing your keywords in your meta-tags won't really help you. It used to be a good idea, but these days this "secret" is out, and search engines are much more clever when it comes to finding information about what a site is about. Focus on placing your keywords in other places.
Like your title-tag.
Mistake #2: Not having your keywords in your title-tag
This is a serious mistake. Unless you place you keywords within your web page's title-tags, don't expect to rank high. Search engines still places great importance in the title tags. Use them. Example: if you sell cheap hotel rooms in Paris, let the title of your web page be "Cheap hotel rooms Paris".
Mistake #3: Not inserting your keywords in your different URL's.
Placing your keywords within your URL's is a good idea, too. First of all, you should consider getting a domain name with your keywords.
- www.cheap-hotel-rooms-paris.com
Many search engines would rate this site much higher for these particular keywords!
Secondly, remember that you can also place keywords in your individual pages URL name, like this:
- www.cheap-hotel-rooms-paris-com/cheap-hotel-rooms-paris.html
This will most likely help boost your search engine ranking.
Mistake #4: Not using your keywords in your web page text
When search engines rank pages, they look at your content. Be sure that you use your keywords in your web page text, like this:
Example:
- "This site is all about cheap hotel rooms in Paris. So, if you're looking for a cheap hotel room in Paris - welcome! We've made it really easy for to find a cheap hotel room in Paris, just have a look at all our listings. We hope you'll find a cheap hotel room in Paris".
Granted, I wasn't being to subtle in this example, but it gives you an idea. Repeat your keywords as many times as you can without bothering your reader!
Mistake #5: Trying to mix too many keywords into your web page text
A common mistake is to mix too many keywords into your web page. That won't help. In most cases a web page will rank well only for a selected set of keywords. Be selctive and focused.
Mistake #6: Not having enough inbound links
Search engines are looking for valuable content that the surfers will find relevant. One way search engines determine whether a site is relevant to a set of keywords is to see how popular it is.
If a site is popular, then it must be af great value, right? Well, that's how the search engines are programmed anyway.
But how do they determine whether a site is popular? By looking at how many other sites link to it. This is called the popularity factor.
Try to get as many sites as possible to link to you. You can do this by contacting sites that might be interested in what you offer and asking them to link back to you. Some sites will do this even though your site is not relevant - but in return the demand that you place a link to their site on your own web page.
A third way to get other sites to link to you is to start an affiliate program. Check out thye Internet Marketing Dictionary for more info on affiliate programs! (www.imdic.com)
Remember that internal linking counts, too! The pages within your site that has the most internal links pointing to it, will score higher! Make sure you inter-link all the pages you want to rank high.
Mistake #7: Waiting around for the search engines to index your site
Well, if you've got the time, by all means...wait. Personally I would rather pay some money in order to get my site include in the search engines as quickly as possible.
There are many other benefits from paid inclusion, one of them is that the spiders will constantly look for fresh content from your site.
Consider getting a listing in Yahoo! It costs $ 299 per year, but is worth it. Next consider submitting your site to ODP (www.dmoz.org)(free) and Inktomi - which delivers results for many, many other search engines.
It is also a good idea to test your keywords with a program like Google's AdWords or with Overture (www.overture.com)
So there you have it. Avoid these 7 mistakes, and you will be much better off in going for that high search engine ranking.
Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 09:31:10 AM by Rena Klingenberg