How to Get Your Web Site Listed at the Top of Google

The biggest challenge every single website owner has (including me) is getting traffic to his/her web site. And bar none the best traffic you can obtain is Organic Search Engine traffic.

So what is Organic Search Engine traffic?

Simply put, when someone is searching for a product or service they type their query into the search engine (google, yahoo, MSN etc.) and then the results of that search are displayed. And you want your web site to come up in that search query.

You probably already know that the majority of people will not go past the first page of the search engine results and even less people will go past the top 30 results. Therefore, your challenge is getting your website listed on the first page of the search engines for the keywords relating to your site.

Now there are a ton of people that will tell you there is some mystical voodoo secret mojo to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). And if you’re not familiar with the term SEO. Simply put SEO is where you build your web site in such a way that the search engines like it and the result is getting better rankings on the search engines.

Well I’m here to tell you that it is not as mystical as everyone would lead you to believe. Just like anything, advertising, google ad words, article marketing it takes constant work to achieve the results you want and in this case, that would be to maintain a top search engine ranking.

I will admit there are many things you can do optimize your web site but I am going to touch on the basics. I have been doing this for some time now. I was taught from some of the best people in the business, so I am passing onto you what was taught to me.

What I am going to share with you is for google. Since it’s the big guy on the block that’s whom I optimize my sites for. There is a lot of info I want to share with you so I have broken this article into 2 parts.

First, just as important as learning What To Do. Is learning What Not To Do.

These are known as black hat techniques. Just stay away from them, if your caught your website will be penalized or even worse banned completely from google. Then you have to start all over and that’s just not worth it.

If you want even more information of the Do’s and Don’ts by Google, just type into Google:

Google Webmaster Guidelines

Ok here are the no, no’s of SEO.

1) Door Way Pages. A doorway page has been designed just for the search engines and not for human beings and is redirected to the goal page. The goal page is the page you ultimately want people to see. So what the webmaster does is makes minor changes to the page and resubmits it to the search engine over and over again.

So when someone finds that page he/she is redirected to the real page and this is usually done with a fast meta refresh command. Google no longer accepts pages using fast Meta refresh. Google see’s these page(s) as duplicates and exclude them from their listings.

Don’t confuse a doorway page with a landing page. Landing pages are ok as they provide a lot of information, have relevant links pointing to them and can be seen by both humans and the search engine spiders.

2) Hidden Text And Links. As the term suggests keywords and keyword phrases are hidden on the page. Usually this is done by having the text the same color as the page color.

Not only Google but the other search engines have the ability to recognize that white text is being displayed on a white background or black text on a black background and so on.

If you want to see if your webmaster has used hidden text, start by looking for large blank areas at the top, bottom or sides of your web page. Now simple scroll your cursor over the area any hidden text will appear. Or you can look at the source code.

You can also hide Hidden Text in your “ALT” tag. The “ALT” tag text will appear when you place your cursor over the image. It will also display the text if your image does not display.

If a few words or even a sentence appears that’s ok. If an entire paragraph appears or a lot of words that don’t read as a sentence appear, that’s bad. Your web master has tried to stuff too many keywords inside the image’s ALT tag. Get rid of them.

It is best to use 4 or 5 words or a sentence of 4 or 5 words long in your “ALT” tag.

3) Cloaking. This is where the content presented to the search engine spider is different to what is presented to the browser (you). By doing this a page that other wise would not be displayed is displayed.

So what happens is the information being delivered is based on the content on the IP addresses or the User-Agent HTTP header of the user requesting the page. When a user is identified as a search engine spider, a server-side script delivers a different version of the web page, one that contains content not present on the visible page.

4) Link Farms. I’m sure you’ve heard of the term link farm. All a link farm is, is a system where all the members are linked to each other via a common set of link pages. The result is that all members have a links page with the other members’ web addresses on them.

Many of these link programs have several hundred or even thousands of members, so by joining you have almost instant access to hundreds of other web sites that point links to your site. This can lead to your site looking very “popular”.

The big problem with this is that you are artificially boosting the popularity of your site. You see when a spider from a search engine (Google) comes to your site it checks out your links. If it sees you have a lot of inbound links you can achieve a higher ranking because the more inbound links you have the better. However, it also checks out the quality and relativity of those links to your site.

So if you have a site about “dog training” and most of your links have nothing to do with dog training you will not receive a better ranking. In fact anyone using this type of linking will be penalized. Either your site will get dropped down in the search engines listing or you will be banned all together.

5) Duplicate Content. The search engines only want to index original content. They don’t want to index the same content 1000 times. If duplicate content/site is detected only one will be indexed. The rest will end up as supplemental context and won’t even rank.

6) Keyword Stuffing. Yes you need to have your keywords on your site and in your meta tags, but there is a delicate balance. Sure, you want to rank for a specific keyword and the more times you use it on the page, the more likely you’ll rank for it. Just don’t go crazy.

I have about 25 keywords in my meta tags and all of these keywords are used in the content of my site. But they are used only when the content calls for it.

Keep your writing natural and use the keywords as you feel suitable. Using them too many times will make your site look spammy, which doesn’t sit well with either your human visitors or the spiders that crawl your site. Might not get you banned but you certainly won’t get a favorable ranking either.

Here’s an update many search engines Google for one, do not use Meta Tags as part of their ranking system any more. However, some still do so that’s why I mentioned it.

7) Duplicate Sites. This is when you clone your site under a bunch of different domain names with the same content and then you have the pages linked together so the can get a better ranking and get the top spots for your keywords. This is a really bad idea, and sure way to get banned. Short and sweet, never do this.

Pay Per Click Listings

Ever wondered how pay per click listings work? Perhaps you think it's of no interest to you, because you've assumed it's just another internet gimmick and that it's not profitable. Maybe you'd change your mind if you knew that you can make a lot of money out of it. Pay per click schemes are very popular with online businesses because they bring in so many potential customers. In fact, the main difficulty of any online business is bringing traffic to their site.

Pay per click is where clients pay a company or individual to set up ad campaigns over the Internet to draw potential customers into their website. If you have even basic knowledge of the Internet, you could build on what you know very quickly to learn how to make a living from pay per click listings. In fact many industrious Internet workers have discovered that they can make a more than decent living just organizing such campaigns. It's often quite sufficient to enable them to give up their daily commute to work so that they can work from a laptop anywhere they please.

Pay Per Click Listings Campaigns

All you need to work your own business dealing in pay per click listings is a laptop, an internet connection, a couple of hours to spare every day and nothing more. You don't have to dress up, you don't have to keep special hours, and you don't have to do anything you don't want to. The choice of when to work and where to work is entirely up to you, every day of the week.

It's not unusual for entrepreneurs conducting pay per click listings campaigns to report takings of over $1,000 a day. Some of them take in even more than that. It's good money anyway you look at it. If you're interested, and would like to learn more about how to conduct a pay per click campaign, you can get information packs from certain websites on the Internet specializing in this kind of work.

Techniques to Generate Online Traffic

For any Internet business to succeed, generating TRAFFIC is absolutely essential. That is, finding and implementing ways to entice potential buyers to read, see or hear your sales message and then to opt-in for additional information or to purchase. Without generating traffic, it is unlikely anyone will see your message (unless they perhaps stumble upon it). 

If you want to attract customers or clients, you must constantly be instituting competitive methods for creating interest and action from your target market. Your target market is the group you have identified as seriously potential buyers of your product or service. 

Above all, you do not want to simply spend your time, energy, and money advertising to just anyone who will possibly listen --- that is extremely ineffective. When generating traffic, the process needs to include research and discipline when finding your possible buyers and reaching them in a way that is most profitable. 

Consider these 8 traffic generating methods: 

* Use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, such as Google's AdWords or similar programs by Yahoo or MSN. This method does require a learning curve, so take the time to investigate how this process is successfully implemented. When you do this right, the results can be profitable. But, if you do not do your homework, it can be a very expensive learning process. 

A good place to begin is to study the tutorials provided by Google's AdWords website. Then, you will also be able to find loads of additional training available by doing an online search. There is no end to the ebooks, videos and courses on the topic of PPC advertising. 

And, a here's tip: to get your sea legs, you may want to start this advertising method with one of the PPC programs other than Google. It can be a little less expensive. 

* Learn the science of effective keyword selection. Here, again, the novice will find that there is a bit of learning curve. But, when you do get the hang of researching and picking relevant keywords or phrases, you are likely to attract more targeted prospects. And, when the search engines pick up on your high ranking keywords, your message is likely to be viewed by more people. A pay-per-click ad has a better chance of appearing in the initial search results pages. There are a number of very good keyword search tools. 

* Create an opt-in page where visitors provide their name and email address for further information. The opt-in page may be called a squeeze page, a capture page, an opt-in sales page or a variety of other names. But, the bottom line is that the prospect voluntarily provides their contact information and it is added to your auto-responder mailing list. 

It is this list of prospects and customers that becomes your cherished source for future sales. Prior to obviously promoting a product or service, begin to develop a relationship with newly listed prospects to establish credibility. It is important for people on your list to view you as someone they can trust. 

* Create newsletters and special announcements to send out to your auto-responder list of subscribers. Establish yourself as an “expert” on your particular topic. Give your prospects or customers a reason to do business with you. 

If you are communicating effectively with your list, you will generate additional traffic by giving your readers a reason to forward your message or to share details about your particular product, service, or promotion with others. 

* Write articles and press releases. By writing and submitting articles to the article directories, you implement a marketing method for potentially long-term exposure. At the end of the article you ad short informative copy about your product or service with a link to get additional information. 

Submitting a press release about your product or service can create a sense of urgency and value to what you are marketing. The structure of the press release depends on the topic and where it is submitted. 

* Implement the use of Viral Marketing. This is where you take the opportunity to include your website address and a short promotional blurb to sources that are likely to be shared by others. 

With this marketing method, people can become so intrigued with the message or information you provide they feel compelled to pass it along to others. For example, you can attach a creative or informative message or link to various types of media -- such as an article, some variation of gossip or buzz format, a funny video or entertaining game. 

* Join forums or discussion sites to gain information and to share your knowledge. Research forum websites for your particular topic, observe the communication exchanged on these sites, and eventually contribute value to establish your credibility as an “expert.” As with articles, you can ad a brief blurb about your product or service and include a contact link. 

* Exchange or trade links with other websites. This can be a great way to build business relationships with owners of other website or blog, and this method is free to inexpensive. Do a search for websites that will compliment the product or service that you offer. Chances are the other website owner will consider this a good move as well. 

By showing each others website links, it brings additional attention to the sites -- and the search engines like to see incoming links. Also, when visitors see your link shown on someone else's site, it may appear to be an implied endorsement. 

The above methods for generating traffic only represent a fraction of the tools you can use to achieve marketing success. However, these 8 traffic generating tools have proven to be well worth your time, effort and expense when properly implemented. More information about these and other methods can easily be found by doing an online search.