How
to Get Search Engine Traffic
Of all the traffic
my websites have generated the past few years (literally
millions of visitors) ONE traffic source stands head and
shoulders above the rest...
Search Engine Traffic.
Specifically, traffic
from google.com and yahoo.com - the leaders in finding things
on the web.
The traffic is top
quality. These people are finding my sites on their own,
so they are my best potential customers. And the traffic
flows continually regardless of my advertising budget.
Considering the highly
targeted nature of this traffic and the fact that it flows
to me virtually without cost, search engine traffic simply
cannot be beat.
So today I want to
discuss how YOU can maximize traffic from search engines.
And no, I do not have a trick or overnight solution. If
you are looking for that, you can stop reading now. But
what I will share with you today WILL increase your search
engine traffic. It will take some time but believe me, it
is well worth it.
So let's go... The
first thing to consider is how the best search sites determine
where to send their clients -- the searchers. It does not
happen by accident. In fact all search engines have complex
algorithms that determine how they rank sites.
But after all the smoke clears, I can point
directly to ONE essential component that leads to ever-growing
traffic from the major search engines...
QUALITY.
Or more precisely, this equation is my formula
for success with search engines...
Quality Content + Quality Links = SE Rank,
Traffic and Sales.
Quality is what matters most to top search
sites like Google and Yahoo. They want quality results for
their searchers. And this ultimately translates into YOU
providing quality to them.
Read that again. It is important to understand.
As a webmaster, quality is something you need to be very
concerned with.
There are two specific areas where quality
really counts...
a) Quality of Content AT your Website
b) Quality of Links TO Your Website.
Let's talk about this in a bit of detail.
Quality Content AT Your Site
A quality website with solid, reliable and
substantial content will always do better than sites trying
to "trick" their way to good ranking. That's why
the major search sites have such a huge market share --
they provide quality search results. Websites that qualify
as such are usually the first sites presented in their search
results.
There is no secret to this. And providing
quality content takes work. I do it by writing articles
like this. And you can do it by writing articles for your
niche market. If your site focuses on collectibles, then
write an article about a specific collectible every week.
In a year you will have 52 keyword-rich web pages (or more)
that will help grow traffic to your website. In two years
you'll have 100+. And this content is the cornerstone of
your website.
I've been writing about this aspect of web
marketing for seven years now. And I can remember a few
years back when all those single page sales letters were
blooming all over the web. "Who needs content?"
these new experts were writing. Where are they now? Sure,
some of them are making a few dollars but most have fallen
by the wayside. Why? Because they do not contribute to the
very nature of the web... information.
Let's face it, nearly ALL people online
are here to get information. Not many people want to pay
for it either. After all, you can find in-depth information
on any subject imaginable. Sure, you sometimes have to pay
for the best quality information, but if you surf long enough
you can get to the truth of any subject using the World
Wide Web.
If you are a website owner, the paragraphs
above translate into a simple strategy. Feed the search
engines that provide this valuable content. Create content
for your niche market. Grow a website that is information
rich and the visitors will come. It may take time but they
will come.
Of course, there are ways that you can move
the process along a bit. The best way is to show search
engines what your content is about and how important it
is. This is done by building...
Quality Links TO Your Site
You may have heard of the importance of
getting other sites to link to yours. So let's cover this
a bit. Yes, getting lots of links coming to your site is
important. But the QUALITY of those links is even more important.
I will not get into Google page rank or
any other specific algorithms on any search engine. The
fact is, NOBODY is privy to that specific information. But
I can say for sure, based on experience, that the quality
of links coming to your site is VERY important.
When it comes to the actual links, quality
is measured primarily by these two factor...
a. What sites link to your site
b. Exactly how they link to you
The first one is the toughest nut to crack.
Getting quality sites to link to yours is not easy. Naturally,
the first step is to have a quality site yourself. More
proof of my advice above. And once you have a quality site
in place, you can start building links to it. I'll get into
exact strategies for that in a minute. First I'd like to
cover (b) from above -- exactly how sites link to you.
For sure, text links seem to be better than
banner links. And text links filled with your best keywords
are better than any old text link.
For instance...
If you were trying to build links to your,
let's say... fishing related site, how other sites display
links to yours is extremely important. To decide what you
want those links to say, you need to research keywords a
bit. The word "fishing", would seem obvious but
it undoubtedly has a ton of competition. So a better idea
is to find more specific words. You can do that by entering
your main keyword into the tool at www.WordTracker.com or
at Overture's keyword suggestion tool. And you'll get a
list of related keywords. This particular test showed me
that the keywords "fishing tackle" or "fishing
lure" get quite a bit of searching as well. So those
would be a better choice of keywords to use in your incoming
links.
(If your site does not offer such equipment,
you can still offer "information" on these topics.)
But how do you decide
what those other webmasters will write when they link to
your site? That's easy. You do it by giving other webmasters
the exact code they can paste into their sites. I'll show
you how at the end of today's tip.
Now back to actually getting those links
to your site...
Getting Links
Earlier we talked about the importance of
having quality sites link to your website. And that's not
an easy task. In fact, getting quality sites to link to
your site takes a bit of originality. You can't just slap
up a "link to us" page and hope the job gets done.
Many webmasters simply search the web and
then email related sites asking for a link swap. In my opinion
that is too time-consuming and tedious.
There are lots of other ways to grow the
number of links into your site. There are many automated
solutions available such as link farms and the like, but
be careful with those. Many such networks are not search
engine friendly and using them can actually hurt your site.
You have to be careful when selecting a link strategy.
Your link strategy should include a way
for people to get a link from your site to theirs, as well
as create a link from their site to your site. And if you
can automate the entire process you'll save lots of time.
With all this in mind, I set up my link
strategy using a type of directory. You can see it (as well
as grab a high-profile link) here.
What you'll find there is my "Internet
Marketer's Resource Directory." Basically, it's my
link swap strategy. And it works quite well. It generates
a few dozen quality links for me every week, which would
take quite a bit of time and energy if I were to do it manually.
And the hundreds of link swaps it has helped me gather,
as resulted in lots of traffic to my site, not to mention
improved search engine ranking. I wish I had set it up when
I was first getting started online.
Building a link strategy at your website
is an important step that will help you more than you realize,
especially as time goes on. So make it one of the first
of your Internet marketing steps.
Once your link building infrastructure (something
like the above example) is in place, you need a few ways
to get webmasters linking. Below are a few strategies I
use. I invite you to emulate these strategies at your site...
1. Pre-license all your best stuff.
As you create your own tips, articles or
content for your website or email newsletters, consider
pre-licensing it to others. Pre-licensing it for others
is as simple as including a short footer after your work.
It looks something like this:
"You have permission to reprint what
you just read. Use it in your ezine, at your website or
in your newsletter. The only requirement is including the
following footer..."
*Article by YOUR NAME, visit www.YourWebsiteUrl.com
for more original content like this.
Getting the idea? This takes no extra work
on your part since you already write the article. A simple
footer like that lets you pre-licensed it to the entire
web. Your links will be growing continually with no extra
effort. There are lots of websites in need of decent content.
Supply it and you can benefit greatly - if you do it right!
Note: If you need to see this strategy in
action, visit my Internet marketing articles archive.
2. Bribe webmasters into linking up.
The next strategy that can work very well
is the "bribe". In a nutshell, you simply give
something of value away to anyone who links to your site.
When done correctly, this strategy can be
extremely powerful. All you need to get started is a few
text links that people can use to link to your site, and
a way to automate all aspects of the "bribe".
Again, my implementation of this strategy
is tied in with my link building directory. That link generating
tool bribes my visitors into linking to one of my sites
by offering two distinct rewards:
a. Marketers can secure a link from my site
to THEIR best Internet Marketing Resources in my high-profile
directory.
b. When they reciprocate with a link to
my site, they get a free book just for participating.
Note: The tool that automates my link building
strategy is called LinksManager. It allowed me to create
my directory in a few hours and it automates the entire
"get links" strategy for me. It sends automated
emails to all new submissions, checks their site for reciprocal
links, sends email reminders if they don't reciprocate,
and even gives away my book when reciprocal links are verified.
When visitors link to my sites their links are set up directly
and not through the system. So it is search engine friendly.
I've been using it for a few years now with great success.
And no, I'm not an affiliate. ;-)
Feel free to fill my directory with your
best Internet Marketing resources right now. You're sure
to get lots of visitors from the directory as other BizWeb
eGazette subscribers do the same. ;-)
Oh yeah, and after you submit your listing,
pay special attention to the page that pops up. It is where
I give other webmasters the exact code they can paste into
their sites to link to mine. You should use a page like
that at your site as well. It makes linking very simple,
even for new webmasters. In fact, feel free to copy the
layout of that page and customize it with your own keywords
and links for YOUR site.
In Closing...
OK, so is everything in today's gazette
all you have to do to move your site up the ranks of the
major search engines like Google? Well, not really. There
are lots of other consideration such as the Title of your
site. Your title needs to include your best keywords as
well. And so does the text of your pages. But I'll save
the details on these for another day. For now, get busy
building quality content and quality links. They are two
keys to the success of your website.
That wraps up today's tip! If you take one
lesson from it remember, QUALITY CONTENT AND QUALITY LINKS
will bring you lots of targeted website traffic.
See ya in next month...
Jim Daniels
P.S. How Often Do You Find Yourself Saying:
"I Wish I Knew How To Make My Living from the Internet."
(There really is no lifestyle like it, unless you were born
into riches.) I can show you how to... make a living online.
Webmasters/Ezine Publishers:
* Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing. Jim's site has
helped
1000's of regular folks profit online. Visit Jim at http://www.bizweb2000.com
and
http://www.make-a-living-online.com.
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