Search Optimization & Search Marketing Recommendations

SEO Articles Drive Both Attention and Sales

Posted by Admin on October 21st, 2009 — Posted in SEO

By John Doetsch

Optimizing search engine results helps to improve online marketing exposure.

Dynamic and impactful SEO articles help to ensure your site is positioned most strongly on critical search engine results. Developing an online strategy designed to maximize your website’s popularity will both drive increased traffic and, hopefully, sales for your internet business. SEO articles, then, are valuable tools for improving web site productivity, and should be included on all business web sites.

The acronym of “SEO” stands for “search engine optimization,” and SEO articles are web site content pieces written to increase a site’s overall popularity within important online directories such as Google, Yahoo or MSN. The most successful SEO articles are written according to a specific formula or format, which is designed to attract search engine attention, while also maintaining a sense of originality and purpose.

Keyword rich content is the primary element of SEO articles. Keywords are the words or phrases that an Internet searcher types into a search engine. Keyword rich content, then, makes use of a specific set of words or a particular phrase that is designed to prime website searches. Generally, this type of content article is only a few hundreds words long. However, the more critical component of these pieces is actually the density with which a keyword phrase is used. “Density” refers to the percent of words in a keyword article devoted to the keyword phrase. For example, if “soda” was a keyword phrase for your cola company and you published a 100 word article using the word “soda” 3 times, your article is said to have a keyword density of 3%.

However, it is important to remember that keyword rich content is not the only element of SEO articles. In order for SEO articles to maximize their business impact, they must be interesting, useful and well written. One of the most common mistakes in writing SEO articles is to forsake quality for basic keyword repetition. Most major search engines deem articles with keyword densities of fewer than 5% as a legitimate, informative article. Therefore, online marketers should not publish an article that simply repeats the keyword phrase a gratuitous number of times. With the sophisticated filters now used by search engines, articles that are written in this format can actually be considered akin to spam and may, in fact, actually lower your website’s popularity.

Regardless of the keyword phrases used, however, your website’s content is, practically speaking, an important gauge that potential customers use when measuring your site’s legitimacy; it serves as a client’s first impression. Therefore, any copy published online through keyword articles, should be designed not only for attracting search engine attention, but also for providing useful information to the greatest number of people– a quality, like any successful marketing tactic, that is essential to your bottom line, as well.

Using quality SEO articles can, in addition to boosting your search engine ranking, improve the all over tone and feel of your web site. Interesting content may encourage readers to spend more time on your site, rather than just briefly scanning the page for a few seconds before moving on to the next search engine result. Indeed, SEO articles that provide real information or advice in the form of tips, useful product related news, and other relevant information provides you with the opportunity to impress your potential customer with the quality of knowledge you bring to your business.

SEO articles that are skillfully written and targeted specifically towards the products and services featured on your business web site can prove to be an invaluable part of a comprehensive marketing strategy. In addition to improving your site’s search engine ranking, SEO articles can also infuse customers with confidence about and trust in your online operation. Engaging in search engine optimized articles is, therefore, a critical component for both your company and your clients.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Doetsch

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SEO-What Am I Doing Wrong?

Posted by Admin on October 21st, 2009 — Posted in SEO

By Vickie Scanlon

When I first put my website up I anxiously waited with high anticipation for the traffic to arrive. And let me say, I waited, and waited — and got excited when I saw some clicks, before realizing they were my own. Then my patience turned to frustration. I had to find a way to get traffic to my site–for my own clicks were definitely counterproductive.

As with most newbies, I did not have a lot of money to work with, so I was looking for a free option to get my website moving. That’s when I came across this thing called Search Engine Optimization. It was free, required a lot of work, but the rewards would be long term. At least that was what I read.

So, what am I doing wrong with SEO?

First, most people tend to want to shy away from Search Engine Optimization. Why? It’s seems complicated, they’re not quite sure where to begin or they feel the results are too long-term and not immediate (usually). Well, all I can say is, take a deep breath, step through your fear and tackle the monster of SEO, or your online business will suffer.

The first mistake many webmasters make, I included, is to assume that you only need to optimize your home page. Not true, you should optimize for traffic on all your web pages. If you have in the beginning, say, 20+ pages, do you want people to just hit your home page or all 20+ pages? I bet you’re saying all 20+ pages. If not, you should be. You must make your website accessible to your target market, thus, open the entry points where you want them to enter.

Second mistake, many webmasters do not fully understand the importance of keywords in their meta tags. Thus, SEO begins first with optimizing your meta tags with your keywords or keyword phases.

Meta Tag Title – your keywords should be in the meta tag title. Well, let’s see, what did I have — my index web page had the welcome title that I used on the web page. Well, this could be a good thing if it has your keywords in it — but if it doesn’t you’re losing the search engines and traffic. Translated, what title you have on your web page for visitors to view, doesn’t necessarily have to be the title in your Meta Tag Title.

Meta Tag Description – your keywords should be included in the description as well. It’s almost like writing a concise ad to draw the search engines and traffic. If you go to Google and type in one of your keywords, you may very well see the meta description drawing people to your site. It depends on what the search engines find to be relevant.

Meta Tag Keywords — some say that the search engines ignore the keywords, while others believe they are giving the competition an unfair advantage. I personally use the meta tag keywords, both as a personal reference and for any of the search engines that may still use the keyword meta tags.

Alt tags — not all search engines utilize the alt tags, but some still do. So, don’t ignore the images, where you can put a keyword in an alt tag. It’s rather simple, just put alt=”keyword here” within the image.

Content — you should have keywords within your content. For me, emphasis should be audience first, then keywords. So write your content first, then try to incorporate your keywords.

Things To Avoid

To keep you in good standing with the search engines you should avoid some of the following:

1. Blackhat tactics — No hidden keywords. Which means, having keywords that are the same color as your background and are not visible to the human eye.

2. Keyword stuffing — Stuffing your keywords into your copy. You can tell rather easily by the fact that the content does not flow smoothly and may have little or no learning value to the reader.

This is a good starting point, and if you’re new to SEO it will keep you busy for a while. So, create the mindset of “getting it done” with long-term goals and you should begin to see traffic coming your way for years to come.

To Your Success.

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