The Affiliate Marketer’s Quest for Effective SEO

The questions about SEO

With today’s sophisticated technology tools and resources, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) software, IT pros and the techniques they employ are light years ahead of where they were only a decade ago; and SEO is immense; so there are no secrets on how to rank high with the major search engines. However, there are still be a few questions relating to SEO and how it can be used to improve a Web business’ bottom line. Let’s first understand how search engines work before we start getting into details about how a business can benefit from SEO.

Search engines generally specialize in providing their users with the most relevant and up-to-date information, intended to match certain search terms which those users place in search boxes to find specific items, topics, or people they’re interested in. Search engines are some of the most sophisticated pieces of technology which allow users to quickly find relevant websites by searching for a word or a phrase; and the results mean nothing to users if the information they get back does not relate to the search term, or if the results are old.

Users expect fresh, new, relevant information from their searches, which is why webmasters and website owners update their websites everyday by adding fresh, new content intended to help them get noticed by the search engines. So, if you are going to sell any type of product or service online, you have to optimize your website for the search engines, in order to increase traffic and boost sales.

The effectiveness of SEO

Keep in mind that over 90% of a business’ sales and revenue will likely come directly from search engine results; and for that reason, it is absolutely important for a business to optimize its website for search engines in order for it to have the largest number of visitors, amount of interest and eventual sales. With this thought in mind, it is understandable that the most practical description of SEO is the process by which webmasters or online business owners utilize strategic copy to augment their website’s status.

There is no doubt that the internet has grown at what has been said to be the fastest pace of any entity, era, or industry in history; and competition for the best search engine position has created an enormous market. Thus, a better understanding of the fundamental elements of SEO is vital for the success – and in many cases the very survival – of an online busines; so making use of effective search engine optimization techniques will improve the page rank of your website.

There are many tricks that can be used to increase page rank; the most effective method being, to provide high quality content on a consistent basis; and while this may seem like a simple concept, there are many websites that fail to provide content that visitors may find interesting. Sites that provide content that is interesting (compelling?), well-written and regularly updated create highly engaged visitors who are more likely to return to the website at regular intervals.




Developing a viable SEO strategy

Consider setting your website apart from those boring, lifeless sites by providing the kind of content outlined above, but do it as a routine and according to a set schedule, and you’ll establishing yourself as a credible and reliable source of information while putting your site a step closer to achieving high page rank through search engine optimization.

Another significant aspect of effective SEO is the inclusion of keywords and phrases within your site’s content; but in order to do this you must also take steps to properly target your (niche?) market by making sure that the keywords and phrases you place on your site are the keywords and phrase that the website is actually optimized for. Said another way, the more keywords you use in your content, the more likely it is that online visitors will find your site when they do some research with those words. If you use these techniques your overall SEO will increase and boost your page rank.

Try also to develop a linking strategy as a part of your overall SEO strategy, as such a strategy will not only provide free advertising for your site, but it gives the impression that your site is imperative because of its affiliation with links of other interesting sites with topic relevance and similar content. For each link you have pointing back to your site is another chance for your potential customer to find you. The more inbound links you have pointing to your site, the higher you will be ranked in the search engines.

Website plus content and SEO equals…

Developing a content stratagem have been proven to be effective in SEO success, because people who get to search the internet are almost always looking for information; so the more information you provide for them, and the more helpful it is, the more likely you are to make the sale. Writing articles is the most effective way to build up content for your site; but when writing articles to post on your site, you must make sure to develop a clear and consistent method of arranging their content.

You can write articles, arrange them and post them per the above suggestion by simply adding a new page to your site, as this will allow room for extra articles to be added when you write them, and will allow you to build up an archive of articles which will be maintained with the intent of attracting online visitors. Make sure also that your archived articles have been included in a directory that is next to the root web of your site so that the search engines will catalog your online articles.

Is your site doing SEO?

Always keep in mind that search engine optimization methods are important in developing your site’s status; and with that thing in mind, make sure that you write high-quality, keyword rich content and link your site to and from a deliberate family of other sites. These things will help improve your site’s popularity and attract increased interest in your online business through a consistent flow of visitors to your site.

Money Earned with Articles is Sustainable

The amount of money which can be made from placing articles and affiliate links on your website differs from person to person, mainly because the amount of money you are able to make will depend largely on how successful your site is, based primarily on the number of visitors it attracts; and in order to attract a large number of visitors to your site a few things must be in order.

Your site must be getting good search engine rankings through your SEO efforts, and your site must also be enjoyable for your visitors to read and it must also be informative through engaging content built around a great niche (specialized) topic. Some experts contend that the size of your website (number of pages), and the number of sites you own are also important factors in determining your success, but no one desputes the importance of great original content and SEO.

As far as earnings go, some webmasters (website owners/publishers) have made claims of earnings as much as $10,000 per month ($120,000 per year) through building and promoting niche sites. However, these claims are not considered average earnings; furthermore most beginning webmasters (and even those with some experience) should not expect this kind of success, as such success is achieved only by seasoned and highly skilled webmasters.

A reasonable income to expect from a niche site, after you have worked for months to gain traffic and have have acquired good affiliates, reliable supporters and reputable vendors (merchants) may be $500-$1,000 per month. However this is recurring income, so you will make that much monthly from the efforts you put into that one site, it is not a one shot deal.

After you have a successful site, you could choose to continue building niche sites as many others do, since you can a reasonably assume that the more sites you build, the better an income you can generate. You can choose to build very fast sites with a limited number of pages, instead of sites which consist of larger volume of content articles that are slightly longer in length.

If you approach site building with the thought that the longer visitors stay on your site the greater a chance they will click on one of your promotional banners, then you will probably accept the premise that the larger each of your sites are, the more income you will likely generate off of them, and therefore create larger sites, but the choice is yours to make once you get going.

When starting out, it is important to remember that your first site will always be your most difficult task, since you are just learning the ropes of a new business; and that not everyone is cut out to market and promote niche sites.

You should also be prepared that in the event it does not work out, it could result in the loss of your money used to launch such a venture, but that is a risk everyone in this affiliate marketing business has to take, and hopefully you will be able to stick it out and weather the early storms that you are bound to encounter.

The important thing is that you don’t give up without a good fight, because if this is really what you want to it deserves your best “hard-fought” efforts. Your first site may take a long time, the work may be tedious, and you may feel like throwing in the towel; but if you give up too early, you will never know what could have been, and who knows, you may be the next great affiliate marketer.