Search Optimization & Search Marketing Recommendations

SEO-What Am I Doing Wrong?

Posted by Admin on October 9th, 2007 — 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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Lots Of Money Making Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose?

Posted by Admin on September 17th, 2007 — Posted in Affiliate Programs

by Alan McLean

Ask questions first before you join an affiliate program. Do a little research about the choices of program that you intend to join into. Get some answers because they will be the deciding point of what you will be achieving later on.

Will it cost you anything to join? Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of charge. So why settle for those that charge you some dollars before joining.

When do they issue the commission checks? Every program is different. Some issue their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice. Many affiliate programs are setting a minimum earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or exceed in order for their checks to be issued.

What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This factor is extremely important because this will tell you how much traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the sale.

How are referrals from an affiliate’s site tracked and for how long do they remain in the system? You need to be confident on the program enough to track those people you refer from your site. This is the only way that you can credit for a sale. The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. This is because some visitors do not buy initially but may want to return later to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is done some months from a certain day.

What are the kinds of affiliate stats available? Your choice of affiliate program should be capable of offering detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Constantly checking your individual stats is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are already generated from your site. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit is the one clicking on the banner or text links.

Does the affiliate program also pay for the hits and impressions besides the commissions on sales? It is important that impressions and hits are also paid, as this will add to the earnings you get from the sales commission. This is especially important if the program you are in offers low sales to be able to hit ratio.

Who is the online retailer? Find out whom you are doing business with to know if it is really a solid company. Know the products they are selling and the average amount they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site.

Is the affiliate a one tier or two tier program? A single tier program pays you only for the business you yourself have generated. A two tier program pays you for the business, plus it also pays you a commission on the on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor in your program. Some two-tier programs are even paying small fees on each new affiliate you sponsor. More like a recruitment fee.

Lastly, what is the amount of commission paid? 5% – 20% is the commission paid by most programs. .01% – .05% is the amount paid for each hit. If you find a program that also pays for impressions, the amount paid is not much at all. As you can see from the figures, you will now understand why the average sales amount and hit to sale ratio is important.

These are just some of the questions that needed answering first before you enter into an affiliate program. You should be familiar with the many important aspects that your chosen program should have before incorporating them into your website. Try to ask your affiliate program choices these questions. These can help you select the right program for you site from among the many available.
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