Search Engine Optimization

Generate traffic and create hits

This article is a quick overview about some methods of traffic generation and their advantages and disadvantages. It is the goal of any website on the Web to attract as much traffic as possible, so it can be seen. One of the problems is the Web is now so huge that there are more pages in it than people on the planet.

How can you get hits and a flow of traffic to your solitary page? If you’re creating a page for general interest or fun without traffic your goals are not met; And if you’re generating traffic for a business website it is literally a case of have traffic or have your business dies. It doesn’t matter if you have the best website site, with great content, fantastic graphics, audio, video and a multimedia experience better than Disneyland; if no one comes it is all for naught.

The Web is not like Field Of Dreams – “if you build it they will come” – no they won’t. Google has about 8 billion pages indexed on the Web and its growing everyday. If you create a new site your chances of having a visitor just stumble on your site is about the same as winning the lottery. How then do we change the game so people can at least appreciate the work put into a website, or in the case of a business or affiliate website, visit to make a decision to buy? The following are some of the most common methods.

Search engine optimization

Basically this means you optimize your pages with the right keywords in the right places so that the search engines index your page as having great CONTENT in relation to key search words. The simple fact of the matter is that your chances of being on page one for the most popular search terms is next to zero.

You will find – thanks to the American domination of the Web – that the most popular searched keywords tend to be American personalities, like Oprah Winfrey, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, etc. Ever wonder why there are so many gossip magazines? The Web is not that different. Gossip is one of the most popular topics.

So if you were to create a new website about one of these personalities thinking, hey I’ll get some of that traffic for myself. I’ll do an Oprah Winfrey site! Content rich, etc., your chances of getting to the top is practically nil. Why? First, because you’ll have 100,000’s to millions of competitors and your chances of being optimized – not only with great content – but with relevant links and important keywords will be nil as well.

Ranking for specific search terms

All is not lost however, because it is still possible to create a niche website and get rated on the first page results. For example, type “marketing internet niche treasures” into the Google search engine and you will see my website at www.intermarkeffiliates.com is rated number one, two, and three. This site is probably of no interest to most people but for affiliate marketers it’s a nice niche topic.

Its not that I have a college degree on the subject but the basics on the subject rates high because the site’s content strongly matches the search phrase, “marketing internet niche treasures” or just “niche treasures” even though the site is likely lost from the radar.

To summarize, one of the first methods of traffic generation is to have a site rich with keywords and content that will draw in search engine traffic. Remember though, the more competitive the keywords the harder this will be. Some companies specialize in generating rich content and links from others like rich content sites targeted to high rating keywords and charge big money for the privilege. Fees can range in the $50,000 and up range. Why? Because free traffic to websites from search engines means big chances for profits.

Introduction

Getting more traffic to your website without spending a lot of money is a process that any Web-based business should strive to learn and make perfect. This process is often referred to as strategy, technique, method, etc.; but it is a process that webmasters spend countless hours, a lot of energy and more often than not, a lot of money to learn. In this article we will cover a few basic steps involved in the process, which will be followed by a more focused look at other ways to get traffic to your site in subsequent articles.

Anonymous to many are a few ways of attracting visitors to your site that do not require risking a lot of cash. But consider the fact it’s not that simple and will take more work on your part. So, if you prefer to work and get traffic to your website instead of paying for it, here are a few simple ways to accomplish that:

First: Submit to article directories

This strategy is perhaps one of the most valuable ways of driving traffic to your website. By writing and submitting articles with a theme associated with your website, you are almost guaranteed to get traffic to your website for an extended period of time.

As long as your articles stay in the directories that you submitted them to, people can find them and the odds of getting traffic to your website are substantial. Some of the submission sites where you can submit to are goarticles.com, ezinearticles.com, dime.com, articlecity.com and Marketingtooltime.com.

Second: SEO and meta tags

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a procedure through which you prepare your web site in a way that appeals to search engine algorithms with the goal of getting higher placements on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Search engine optimization is not hard to learn and there are several software applications that do a good job of SEO. Search engines first look at your meta tags to determine what your site is about. Here are a few key factors when preparing meta tags.

Your domain name should have your keyword in it.
Title tag for each page of your site should include your keyword.
Your keyword should be on the first paragraph of your page.
The image alt tags should include your keyword.
The directory and file names of each page of your site should also have your keyword.

Third: Create a blog that links back to your website

Blog Posts at Blogger.com are readily indexed by Google and other search engines. By updating your blog you are feeding the search engines. and each time you put new content out, the search engines will spot it and th spiders will come.

Putting your keywords in the content of your pages will help you rank higher in the search engines; and by placing a link in your blog back to your site the search engines will follow the link and your site will get indexed and updated more often.

Blogging is painless and it adds a lot of your web pages to the search engine index that and without these pages you will not be found on a keyword search. There are several places to get unlimited blog accounts started with some that are hosted free such as Blogger.com, Another popular blog application is WordPress.com that is hosted on your website.

Fourth: Post in forums relevant to your theme

Posting in forums relevant to your theme will give you the opportunity to place your links to your products and services in the signature line, so you will get visitors from the forum members and search engine, that follow your link. Make sure the signatures you publish in forums are memorable to magnetize readers and make them click on your related link and come to your website.

These 4 marketing tactics are simple and cheaper ways of getting visitors to your website. By implementing the above strategies on a regular basis would warrant a flow of traffic not only for the brief term but also for the long haul.