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Free Traffic Strategies for your Search Engine Optimization

Use search engine optimization (SEO) to increase the position of your web site at the search engines. The better position of your online business through site and page optimization will increase the exposure of your site, and most likely the traffic and raise volume sales of your site.

Search engine optimization can bring Massive traffic to your site

Description: Search engine optimization can bring traffic to your site through these proven SEO strategies:

Traffic is the lifeblood of your Internet business and free targeted continuous traffic is the best kind! When you have committed to build your online business you must get a big traffic return for your time and/or money and your investment in SEO must deliver traffic in an ongoing fashion, not just be a one-shot deal!

The great thing about SEO is, that when you "get it right" at the Search Engines, they'll deliver you traffic for months, even years, without you ever having to touch your pages again.

Compare these basic long-lasting SEO techniques with other traffic strategies such as running an ad in an e-mail mailing list, even a high-profile one. It takes some time to prepare a good ad, with great content and it should be good enough to get people into visiting your site. Consider what happens two days after that post. Yes, unfortunately your traffic falls back to where it was before.

If you have made some sales on that ad, great but you need to do it again to get people to your site if you don't use the best strategies to build sustained-high-yielding traffic on the net.

1) Free Strategies

- Submit your pages to get listed and ranked at the major Search Engines and directories. List at Yahoo!, Zeal, the Open Directory Project and 200 free 2nd tier directories while your site is fairly non-commercial.

- Publish your own opt-in e-zine. Also consider, depending upon your interests or situation, using blogs on your site, or distributing content through RSS feeds and create "word of mouth" buzz through solid content. Focus on your niche market, writing articles, posting in niche-related forums, creating a signature file to use in e-mails and forums, etc.

2) 'Paid' Resources

- Pay to get into other second tier directories in order to obtain credible inbound links and to build link popularity.

Make these strategies the cornerstone of your traffic-building efforts by providing info-rich focused content on your keyword optimized pages and they will bring you ongoing targeted traffic. Your best "large and sustained" traffic returns will come from these strategies, so use your time and focus your efforts here.

Google

Google seems to be everyone’s favorite search engine, but how do you get your website listed? First there is the submission form, located on it's website. The instructions provided by Google are pretty straightforward: Submit your top-level page and Google will spider the rest of the web site.

However, submitting your site this way does not guarantee that you’ll be indexed. Google has always preferred to find new websites by spidering existing sites in its index and following new links from there. Find some quality websites or directories to link to your site. You don’t need hundreds of links, but 3-5 quality links at this stage will encourage Google to index your site. Google typically updates its full index once a month, so do not panic if 4 weeks have gone by and there’s still no sign of being indexed.

Google has recently released its sitemap guidelines how they want you to submit the rest of your pages. This is important since when you submit your sitemap Google will also tell you whether they have any problems crawling your site.

This is a powerful, new way to submit your entire site to Google. More pages should get into their index, faster, although there is no guarantee from Google that all of the files in the Sitemap will be spidered or indexed. Nor will the Sitemap help your ranking score.

Google Sitemaps submission is the equivalent of MSN!'s graphic-challenge submission, except it's the whole site. It proves that a human is asking for those pages to be submitted. And since they know it's a human doing it, this procedure allows you to submit all your pages at once, AND to update Google every time you add or change a page.

Yahoo!

Yahoo! search results default directly to Yahoo!'s own crawler based listings. Relatively few people perform directory and directory drill-down searches. So the value of a Yahoo! listing isn't the amount of traffic it will drive but the quality in-pointing link it provides. New sites looking to establish some critical link popularity may find value in a Yahoo! listing. Established sites may not receive the same value for a listing.

To list your site in Yahoo!'s directory will usually cost you $299 but using the following method, might get your web page indexed and listed in the Yahoo! directory in less than 48 hours and for free! Read here how to submit your site to the Yahoo! directory quickly and free.

At this point, we do not recommend paying to enter the Yahoo! database unless your site is brand new and you have a good reason for expediting the listing process. Recently, we have found that Yahoo!'s willingness to list sites in its database for free has improved dramatically. By creating great content and building up your link popularity, you should have no problems making it into Yahoo! for free.

Yahoo! has copied Google Sitemaps by offering an easy way to submit all your Web pages. It's a simplified version of Google Sitemaps, a text file that contains a list of your site's URLs. Simply follow its sitemap guidelines to submit your web site pages to Yahoo! to ensure you get as many pages as possible indexed.

MSN

MSN: There are two effective ways to get your website listed in the MSN results (sponsored listings aside). You can submit your website to Looksmart (see below) and find your site listed in the “Web Directory Sites” or you can favor Inktomi and have your website listed in the “Web Pages” section.

The Looksmart results are shown ahead of the Inktomi results, so if you choose just one option, make sure it is Looksmart. However, Inktomi is a crawler and is very useful if you have lots of content or hundreds of different products. If someone searches for a multiple-word search term or a particular model number, it will be Inktomi that will likely have the answer, not Looksmart.

Other Search Engines

AOL and Netscape Search both of these fairly important search providers are "aggregators." Since they draw from one or more of the above proprietary SEs, there is no need to report upon them.

Lycos This engine used to provide its own technology. Now it depends almost totally on FAST. Both are owned by Yahoo, as is AltaVista.

HotBot now a minor player, it merely offers a choice of proprietary engines.

FAST/AllTheWeb Originally providing its own search technology, FAST is now both powered and owned by Yahoo!.

AltaVista Like FAST, AltaVista too is now part of the Yahoo! network. Its results are drawn from the Yahoo! database.

The Open Directory

The Open Directory is also referred to as ODP or DMOZ. It is a vast directory updated and maintained by thousands of volunteer editors.

To get your website listed in the directory, simply find the most appropriate category for your website and click the “add url” link. Follow the instructions carefully. Not only are there standard instructions for each category, but also some editors have their own quirky set of guidelines.

Do not be tempted to write a description that is full of dozens of keywords. Pick 3-4 of your most important keywords and write a 20-30-word description that includes these terms.

DMOZ editors are known for changing the descriptions submitted by website owners, so make sure yours is well written so that you reduce the chance of it being edited; it could be your keywords that are edited out. Remember, editors are unpaid at DMOZ, so don’t expect to see your website listed after just a few days. It could take weeks or even months. You can read further instructions at the DMOZ site.

Looksmart

Looksmart uses a combination of paid-inclusion and editorial review and it could prove to be rather costly to use their program. (Don't) Pay the $29 to have your site reviewed and listed in the Looksmart directory. Once listed, you will pay $0.15 per click for the first 5,000 visitors that Looksmart generates to your website. After that, your click-thru rate is adjusted depending on the type of business you operate (rates range from $0.23 to $0.75 per click). The good news is that you can set your monthly budget to ensure that you do not overspend (minimum spend is $15 a month).

What Are Your Chances of Getting Listed?

Getting a basic listing isn't hard and you should be able to get at least a small presence in the main search engines. The question is how many actual visitors will result from your listing.

If you have something reasonably unique to offer, or if you are targeting a particular geographical region, your chances of getting visitors are fairly good. Most businesses could expect to attract at least a few visitors each day through search engines, however to get more than a few visitors per day (up to around a hundred) will take a lot more effort but is still quite achievable.

If you are aiming to attract hundreds of visitors per day, you will need to have something a bit more special - either some very unique content or a very good optimization strategy. That doesn't mean you should get discouraged, on the contrary use the proven SEO strategies and as you do

you'll establish a strong, sustained traffic base you'll start to feel comfortable with what you're doing, and will view the whole concept of building traffic as a very do-able project you'll come across "perfect fits" for the lesser traffic-building techniques (ex., an excellent related e-zine that reaches your target market).


The Search Engines will provide you with lots of traffic as long as you work with them rather than against them. The process is not complicated but it does require some patience and motivation on your part.

 

Building a genuine, profitable, long-term business with equity takes time and work.

It takes a persistent, patient approach fueled by passion, and reassured by faith in a process that both makes sense and is proven to work:


Continue to build more Content pages through all the steps below! 1. Build an optimized Keyword-Focused Content Page. 2. Submit that page to the Search Engines. (Note: If you don't submit your pages, you won't get into a Search Engine's database at all. And, if you're not in a Search Engine's index, you're invisible on the Net.) 3. Check for each spider's visit. 4. Check for the presence of your page in each Search Engine's index (i.e., database). This can take 6 to 8 weeks, or even longer. 5. Evaluate performance of that page. 6. Track your performance on a regular basis. 7. Repeat the process for each page you create.


Your patient efforts doing this will pay off. You'll start to rank well for more and more pages at the different engines as you build out your site's content and that means you're getting more traffic to your site!

Do not allocate more than a half-hour or so per week to monitor page performance.

The creation of quality relevant content always serves your business best. It is the quality content page submitted to the search engine that drives traffic!

Be delighted if you get half of your pages in the Top 10 in at least half of the engines. There is no need to shoot for all pages in all engines and if you have a spot in the Top 10 of one engine for any page, don't try to make that page better... you'll go backwards more often than not.

Many Webmasters, experienced and otherwise, fall into the trap of excessively adjusting or tweaking their Web pages in order to improve Search Engine (SE) rankings. "Tweaking" means the constant experimentation with keyword density and keyword placement in the various page elements.

Trying to trick the SEs is a game that is not worth your time. You are doomed to "keeping up" with the smartest minds on the planet at Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.

Do not let on-page SEO dominate your thoughts. For some businesses the traffic starts within a month's time, others may take six months. Certain businesses just take longer to mature in the SEs.

Trust the process. Build a content-rich site, and deliver great information about the theme related topics (keywords) that your brainstorming has found. Create Content, Content, and more Content. Every newly optimized page offers another opportunity for top rankings.

 

How do you get "Word of mouth"?


First piece of advice: Do not bother with those "recommend-a-friend" scripts on your Web site. Less than one visitor in a thousand fills them in. Why should they trust you? At this point, you are a stranger with no credibility. If something promises fast and easy results, if all you have to do is copy-and-paste something, don't bother! Why? Because, even if it works well at first, it will stop delivering results very soon.

The most effective way to get "word of mouth" is to deliver great content! And by 'great' we mean great since average content simply doesn't deliver word of mouth traffic. Develop a high profile in your niche market as a knowledgeable expert who overdelivers.

On the other hand, if your site's content is just so-so, these techniques will not deliver both big and sustained results.

For example:

Writing articles or buying ads in e-zines will bring you a 1-2 day pulse of traffic (that is, if you choose well and write an effective ad or article). But then traffic falls right back down... unless your content is superb! Same reality for posts in forums, mailing lists, etc. Make a great post in a tightly targeted discussion group, and some people will visit your URL. After that, the content must wow them. Sure, using a sig file is something you should do. It's free, and it's sustained. At best, though, you send 40 or so e-mails per day, mostly to people who know you. Not much super traffic-building potential there.




However do it right and some or all of the above techniques could be fairly effective in creating a word of mouth buzz:

Firstly, the more you focus on your niche, the better. Secondly your site should have 40-50 pages, there must be substance and Thirdly our content should be of outstanding value to targeted visitors.


If all three circumstances are present, making a post or writing an article could produce a higher yield than a brief one-day spike. For example, someone reads your post, visits your site, and then your content blows them away! As a result, they tell their friends, put a link on their site to yours, and return to the discussion forum to talk about your site.


Inbound Links Building


To have any real chance of being noticed by the search engines you need at least a handful of inbound links. Without any links at all you will be at a serious disadvantage. The more genuine inbound links you can acquire, the better your search results will be.

Again content is what really matters, even for links building. Why else would anybody link to your site, anyway?

Good content will attract attention, inbound links and other referrals. Over time the accumulation of good press will give you many of the same benefits as other methods of SEO. In addition, this type of "natural" referral tends to be more genuine, diverse, robust and long-lasting.

Content-based SEO is usually hard work in the initial stages and slow to reap rewards. It can also be difficult for some websites to create enough content to be effective. However it is likely to give you the best, most stable long-term results. Once established, content-based SEO becomes easier to maintain than other methods.

However, if your site provides content in highly competitive areas "mortgage" or "used cars " you will find the competition is so fierce that content alone won't be enough. It's not only the quality of content which matters - quantity is also important. People search for a huge variety of words in all sorts of combinations. The more text you have, the more chance that some particular phrase will match the exact phrase someone is searching for.

When content alone is insufficient to compete in the top search engine results pages (SERPs), webmasters must use other methods like 'Arranging navigation structure and linking methods to maximize PR value in your site' and 'Tailoring the anchor text of hyperlinks (the text which you click) to emphasize keywords' to increase their rankings.

Speaking of additional SEO strategy, be reminded that the following tactics are considered to be search engine spa~mming and should therefore not be used:

Misleading optimization, such as purposely optimizing pages for keywords which are not relevant. "Keyword stuffing" - filling the page with a ridiculously high percentage of keywords. Attempting to gain multiple SERP positions by duplicating content on different pages. Creating misleading "doorway" or "cloaked" pages which distort the true content of the website.

There is a fine line between legitimate SEO and SE spamming, always refer to the search engine's guidelines and one of the biggest mistakes that people make, even the professionals, is spending too much time chasing a spot in the Search engine's top 30 for each and every page, trying everything they can find.

 

Using (Meta-) Tags properly


When you build a great quality web site you must make sure your pages are search engine friendly. This means making sure that each individual page is compliant with search engine standards and ready to be indexed correctly. To ensure this follow each of the steps below for each page on your site.

 

Page Title or Title Tag


The title of the HTML page is indeed important and should be relatively short describing the page content accurately. Wherever possible, try to include keywords (without distorting the true purpose of the title). For example:

<title>Best-of-the-Internet Website Traffic Resources</title>

 

Metatags


Use the description and keywords metatags in the head of each web page. Make these tags different on each web page.

<meta name="description" content="Resources to build, analyse and convert website traffic. Helping site owners to choose strategies, products and services to grow their online business."> <meta name="keywords" content="website-traffic-resources, online marketing strategy, resources, increase traffic, etc.... ">

 

 

Heading Tags


Use heading tags. Many search engines place more emphasis on text within heading tags, so make sure they use keywords. Use one <h1> tag per page with the most important keywords. Use other head tags (<h2>, <h3>, etc) to provide variations and support the main heading.

<h1>Online Marketing Strategy</h1> <h2>Free Online Marketing Strategy</h2> <p>... information about free online marketing strategies ...</p> <h2>Paid Online Marketing Strategies</h2> <p>... information about paid online marketing strategies ...</p>

 

Page Text


Make sure the text of your web pages contain keywords and common phrases which people might search for. Be careful with the frequency of your keywords - you want to have them occur at least a few times if possible, but don't repeat yourself so much that the copy becomes unnatural. The idea is to discretely spread keywords around without making it obvious.

Poor search engine rankings


Poor search engine rankings could be costing you more in missed sales than the price of search engine optimization, even if you are using resources you have to pay for. If you are sticking to the free ones the only cost you have is your time, so it is up to you how you want to progress.