Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Old vs New

se old vs new

You may be wondering if SEO is still worth doing these days since there have been many changes in the last couple of years. Your websites may have lost their rankings due to the Panda and Penguin algorithm updates resulting in lost sales. SEO strategies that worked well for you in the past may no longer generate effective results.

For example I submitted content to article directories for many years to share with a larger audience and to build back links to my websites. This often resulted in gaining high rankings in the search engines and generating lots of free traffic. After the Panda and Penguin updates my traffic dropped by 50%. This can primarily be attributed to getting too many back links from article directories using the same anchor text.

Recently one of the most popular article directories on the net… Ideamarketers, closed down because the owner no longer believed this business model was effective strategy for generating income.

So what are the new strategies for effective SEO?

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Critical Considerations For Killer Web Design

killer website design

Some people think that throwing up any type of design for their website will be sufficient to start a successful online business. They are greatly mistaken because your website should reflect the business you’re trying to promote. Before you even begin the design certain questions should be asked.

Will your website be personal, professional or for pleasure?

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Keyword Research Mistakes – Are You Making These Top 3 Mistakes When Searching for Profitable Keywords?

keyword research mistakes

If you don’t research potential keywords correctly you won’t get the desired results you’re looking for. For instance you may spend hours creating a list of keywords using your favorite keyword tool, only to find out later it didn’t generate new traffic or convert into sales.

So what are the top 3 mistakes marketers make while conducting keyword research?

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5 Things To Consider Before Conducting Keyword Research

SEM - Search Engine Marketing

Even if you have a beautifully designed website it won’t generate any sales or leads if you don’t market it. One of the most effective methods for driving traffic to your site is search engine marketing. You can use either paid advertising or search engine optimization. Both require you to generate a list of keywords.

What is pay per click advertising?

This refers to the list of ads displayed in the right side of the search engine results pages (SERPS) where advertisers pay each time someone clicks on their ad. If many advertisers are competing for the same keywords you’ll pay more than the less competitive keywords.

What is search engine optimization?

This refers to the results listed on the left side of the search engine results pages. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing use keywords embedded in your website to find and rank your web pages. Multiple factors determine how high your site will rank ie keywords, quality and quantity of backlinks, domain age, social media signals, etc.

Both methods above first begin with keyword research to determine how many search counts a keyword or keyword phrase receives each month.

Here are 5 things to consider before conducting keyword research

1. Not all keyword research tools are created equal

Each keyword tool gets it’s data from different sources. For example the Google AdWords Tool gets all its data from Google and not any other search engine so this means its results are skewed towards Google. It also includes automated searches generated from automated software programs.

On the other hand WordTracker is more accurate than the Google Tool because it filters out automated searches and gathers its data from all multiple search engines (metacrawlers) such as Dogpile.com and Metacrawler.com. It also doesn’t include duplicate results and filters out adult-oriented keywords.

2. Results only contain a representative sample of total database results

It’s impossible to obtain a totally accurate count from any keyword tool because it doesn’t show the results from its entire database. For instance WordTracker’s results are only a 2% sample of its database.

How does this affect you?

Even though you may only see a few searches displayed inside WordTracker for a specific keyword, your sites stats may show a much higher number because it’s receiving traffic from all over the Net. The keyword tool only provides a representative sample from its database.

3. Keyword research doesn’t guarantee conversions

Even if you’ve created an effective keyword list, optimized all your web pages for the search engines and got hundreds of links pointing to your website it won’t guarantee your visitors will convert into sales or leads. One of the main factors affecting conversion rates is web copy. Well written web copy will generate higher conversion rates than poorly written content. Other factors include web design, load times and usability.

Video: 5 Things To Consider Before Conducting Keyword Research

4. High competition

Selecting keywords that are highly competitive will only waste your precious time. For instance if you select a keyword phrase that receives 5000 searches per month (according to the Google Keyword Tool) and the top 10 websites have 1000s of backlinks pointing back to them plus their domains are over 10 years old, your chances of outranking them will be very slim, especially if you’ve built a new website (with a newly registered domain).

5. Avoid using single keywords

Single keywords will generate thousands of more searches than long tail keywords (keyword phrases containing 2 or more keywords) because they are so general. Even though the search counts will be less it will be easier to gain high rankings for them because there is less competition.

Click here to get a Free Trial of the WordTracker Tool

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5 Keyword Research Tools To Help Webmasters Gain High Rankings
Top 10 Keyword Research Mistakes To Avoid
5 Disadvantages For Using The Google Keyword Research Tool
Keyword Research 101 – Where to Begin?
How To Research The Market Value Of Any Keyword
How to Choose the Right Niche to Start an Online Business
How To Begin A Search Engine Optimization Campaign

SEO vs PPC – Which Method Generates The Most Profits

SEO vs PPC

Whether you’ve just completed the design/redesign of your website or already have an established site you need to drive traffic to it to make it successful. A website with no traffic is like erecting a billboard in the middle of the desert where no one will see it.

The 2 major methods of getting visitors to view your web pages is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC).

What is SEO?

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3 Tips To Improve Conversion Rates and Increase Sales

Is your website attracting lots of traffic?
Are you converting visitors into buyers?
Is it easy to navigate your website?
Does your web copy captivate attention?

Traffic is the lifeblood of your business. The probability of generating sales or new subscribers increases as more visitors view your website content. If your design lacks professionalism or if the content doesn’t captivate the attention of your visitors they will leave and go elsewhere. If the content is not optimized for your targeted keywords you won’t generate free traffic from the search engines.

3 Tips To Improve Conversion Rates and Increase Sales

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SEO 101 – How To Begin A Search Engine Optimization Campaign

SEO 101
Search engine optimization or SEO as it’s often called by savvy marketers is the science of optimizing your website so it appeals to both the search engines and visitors. Websites that are indexed and ranked by search engine spiders attract visitors. A well-optimized site will convert visitors into buyers and/or subscribers. Some folks think that SEO is all about trying to outsmart Google to gain first page rankings however that is far from the truth. The main purpose of SEO is to appeal to your visitors so they will keep returning.

There are many moving parts to SEO and one has to always keep up with the latest updates to stay current, however their are some basic components that form the foundation of every successful SEO campaign. Most savvy marketers may already be familiar with these components however it’s worth repeating them here for those that wish to begin SEO.

Here are the 7 major components of a successful SEO campaign:

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Over-optimization – How It Will Affect Your Website Rankings

For decades website owners achieved top rankings in the search engines with keyword stuffing, link schemes, paid links, etc. As a result search engine users would often get irrelevant results when they entered a specific keyword into the search box. For example when you wanted to find a specific hotel in your local area you would get hotels from all over the country.

over-optimization

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How To Quickly Get Your Website Listed In Google

When I talk to business owners about getting their website listed in Google’s search results they expect their site to appear immediately. Now this may be true if they don’t have a very competitive keyword they want to rank for however most popular keywords will have many competitors. You can’t blame business owners for thinking this way because they haven’t been educated about the intricacies of search engine optimization.

Top 7 factors that determine if your website will get listed in Google quickly

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Build a Business Not Just A Pretty Website

Many business owners are told to build a pretty website to market their business so they pay 1000s of dollars to a website designer then wait for the business to pour in. After several weeks or months of receiving no new leads from their website they conclude it was a waste of time and money.

Where did they go wrong?

They built a website not a business. For a site to be profitable it needs to be functional. A great design doesn’t mean you’ll attract visitors. For example, you’ve probably seen flash websites displaying a dramatic flash presentation before you enter the site. They usually give you the option of skipping the introduction by including a link that says “skip introduction.” The problem with this type of site is that the search engines don’t spider flash content. They only spider text. This means your site won’t attain high rankings resulting in little traffic and leads.

Build a business not just a pretty website

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