Improve Search Engine Rankings
Joe Simpson asked:
Basic Keyword Research
Your traffic is disappointing but even worse so are your profits. It is surprising that even today - a web site is designed and created - often at great expense then simply left. The proud owner simply waits and expects a huge flood of interest or orders to arrive.
So lets look at some simple lessons which can help you improve your web sites visibility and earn lots more traffic.
Improve your Search Engine Rankings on Specific Keywords
Did you think about how people would find your site? The majority of unpaid traffic arrives at a website through the medium of search. A web surfer will type some words into his favorite search engine which will promptly deliver a list of results. Our searcher will generally pick one of the results on the first page. Do you know what keywords you rank highly for if any - well it's time you found out!
Your first tool you need to use is Googles Webmaster tools - sign up for them they are free. You will have to verify it's your site by uploading a html file specified by Google. Simply create a text file in a text editor or web editor with the name specified and upload it to your site.
Learn your Search Engine Rankings
In the webmaster tools you will find a statistics section which will list all the searches your website is appearing in and which ones end up at your site. The information is gold-dust - check out the words you are appearing for - are they relevant to your business ? If they're not your expensive website is not going to generate many customers. Often you'll find you rank highly for completely irrelevant words purely from some piece of text on your site.
Ok lets stop at this point - you need to generate a list of keywords you would like to be ranked for. These words would bring you potential customers - ask friends and colleagues for inspiration. Think extremely carefully about these words are they going to bring paying customers or just general browsers. You can never be 100% certain but some careful thought is essential - remember in general the more specific the keywords like phrases are better - single word keywords are generally too vague to bring you targeted customers.
With your list you now need to do some more research - take your list of key phrases and find the current home of Googles Keyword tool (search Google Keyword tool) - type in your phrases and look at your results - Google will give you an estimate of traffic, the advertising competition for those phrases plus a list of alternatives. If any of your phrases search traffic looks too low it might be worth discarding for some new ones. But remember even low traffic can bring you many hits and possibly lots of customers - the competition is likely to be lower as well. You have to use your judgment about how important those particular phrases are - highly targeted traffic is valuable even with a low volume - it all adds up over the year.
I won't pretend it's easy - there's a level of intuition and thought which will home in on the best key phrases. They will obviously vary completely depending on your websites subject - often the most profitable keywords in an industry can be quite surprising. Google webmaster tools and the Keyword tool will give you an edge - you'll know what people are searching for and what is bringing traffic to your site - you can change the first but you can the second !
After you've identified the keywords that will bring you fortune and fame you'll have to start optimizing your web site for these keywords. Search the web for phrases such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Improve Search Engine Rankings where you will get lots of tips and information - if you wish pay a consultant to do it for you (although not difficult it can be extremely time consuming). To start with though a little clue - if I set up a web page on one of my sites - with a page title of "Designer Swimsuits for Aardvarks" with a couple of headings saying the same - I'd be pretty certain of ranking on page one for that phrase. There's lots more but the Search Engine is looking for text and a match for that phrase - the title is generally linked with the subject so thats a great start.
But really research and learn and you will make your website a success.
Good Luck
Joe
Create a video blog...instantly.
Basic Keyword Research
Your traffic is disappointing but even worse so are your profits. It is surprising that even today - a web site is designed and created - often at great expense then simply left. The proud owner simply waits and expects a huge flood of interest or orders to arrive.
So lets look at some simple lessons which can help you improve your web sites visibility and earn lots more traffic.
Improve your Search Engine Rankings on Specific Keywords
Did you think about how people would find your site? The majority of unpaid traffic arrives at a website through the medium of search. A web surfer will type some words into his favorite search engine which will promptly deliver a list of results. Our searcher will generally pick one of the results on the first page. Do you know what keywords you rank highly for if any - well it's time you found out!
Your first tool you need to use is Googles Webmaster tools - sign up for them they are free. You will have to verify it's your site by uploading a html file specified by Google. Simply create a text file in a text editor or web editor with the name specified and upload it to your site.
Learn your Search Engine Rankings
In the webmaster tools you will find a statistics section which will list all the searches your website is appearing in and which ones end up at your site. The information is gold-dust - check out the words you are appearing for - are they relevant to your business ? If they're not your expensive website is not going to generate many customers. Often you'll find you rank highly for completely irrelevant words purely from some piece of text on your site.
Ok lets stop at this point - you need to generate a list of keywords you would like to be ranked for. These words would bring you potential customers - ask friends and colleagues for inspiration. Think extremely carefully about these words are they going to bring paying customers or just general browsers. You can never be 100% certain but some careful thought is essential - remember in general the more specific the keywords like phrases are better - single word keywords are generally too vague to bring you targeted customers.
With your list you now need to do some more research - take your list of key phrases and find the current home of Googles Keyword tool (search Google Keyword tool) - type in your phrases and look at your results - Google will give you an estimate of traffic, the advertising competition for those phrases plus a list of alternatives. If any of your phrases search traffic looks too low it might be worth discarding for some new ones. But remember even low traffic can bring you many hits and possibly lots of customers - the competition is likely to be lower as well. You have to use your judgment about how important those particular phrases are - highly targeted traffic is valuable even with a low volume - it all adds up over the year.
I won't pretend it's easy - there's a level of intuition and thought which will home in on the best key phrases. They will obviously vary completely depending on your websites subject - often the most profitable keywords in an industry can be quite surprising. Google webmaster tools and the Keyword tool will give you an edge - you'll know what people are searching for and what is bringing traffic to your site - you can change the first but you can the second !
After you've identified the keywords that will bring you fortune and fame you'll have to start optimizing your web site for these keywords. Search the web for phrases such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Improve Search Engine Rankings where you will get lots of tips and information - if you wish pay a consultant to do it for you (although not difficult it can be extremely time consuming). To start with though a little clue - if I set up a web page on one of my sites - with a page title of "Designer Swimsuits for Aardvarks" with a couple of headings saying the same - I'd be pretty certain of ranking on page one for that phrase. There's lots more but the Search Engine is looking for text and a match for that phrase - the title is generally linked with the subject so thats a great start.
But really research and learn and you will make your website a success.
Good Luck
Joe
Create a video blog...instantly.