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In the second and final part of this article I will cover the remaining 5 areas that relate to solid Search Engine Ranks for particular number of key phrases. Again, this will apply to any type of website, on any industry you are targeting.
Lets review the last 5 areas:
Provide a road map of your web site, and search engines will follow it.
Called the “sitemap”, this very simple page contains links to every page on a web site and serves one very important purpose. That is to get your sub pages crawled, and into a search engine’s index.
Search Engines look for the robots.txt file, so make sure you have it.
As its name implies, this is a text file that tells robots what to and what not to index. Its content consists of so-called records. Only mention files and directories that you don’t want to be indexed. All other files will be indexed normally if they are linked on your site. Having a proper robots.txt file gives your pages the rankings they deserve. If search engines know what to do with them, then they can give them good ranking.
Submit your site to related categories in niche directories.
Internet directories have become very important because they represent an easy path for inbound links creation. Now, when you submit your site to related categories in your industry you get that extra link factor, quality. Links from these categories can have a very positive effect on the search engine rankings of your web site.
Writing articles about your site, a great way to get new content.
This will help you get good positioning on search engines and quality incoming links as well. Always keep your articles as informative as possible. Other web sites will link back to your articles if you do. Write about the topics that your visitors are interested in, and don’t forget to send them to syndicate sites. They will in turn offer them to others. Just make sure that you always have a link back to your web site so that all sites who publish your article will automatically link to you.
Become an authority in your field. Visit relevant forums and blogs.
Only join forum and blogs that are relevant to your industry. Use your expertise as a site owner in your industry to give information and advice. Of course, put your URL into the signature of your posts. Being the authority is simply knowing your industry, and giving people the information they need to trust you and your site.
Sincerely yours,
Philipp
Jun
18
The first thing you should know about SEO is that Consistency is the “key word”.
Because of that, in this first article I will cover the immediate things that relate to
solid Search Engine Ranks for particular number of key phrases. This will apply to any type of website, on any industry you are targeting. Lets review first 5 areas:
Search Engines Rank web pages, not web sites.
You should have unique Titles, Descriptions and Keywords in your pages. Therefore,
there should be only one page per keyword phrase you are targeting, highly focused
on that phrase. You can also target as many related combinations of your phrase as searches are using to find it, as long as you have individual pages focused for them.
Your web site has to be relevant to searchers, not just the search engine.
One very important area of SEO is to be well-balanced. There many variables that
matter when it comes to optimizing a site, there is not a specific area were all the
effort should be on. Instead focus on achieving a Top 10 Position, and here is why:
It is OK to be number 5 or number 3 in any given rank… If you are in the 1st spot and you are clicked simply because that spot gets more clicks, are you really going to get more of whatever your site’s goal is just because you are the number 1?
Less is more, when it comes to targeted keywords.
If you have like most, an average site, focus on 5-10 keywords. Build your entire site around these keywords. Remember to be relevant to searches using these keywords. You should rather have one keyword for which your site is on the Top 10 (first page), than ten that are on secondary pages. Put those keywords in your Title, Description, and Keyword areas, and remember the uniqueness factor.
Build real content for people, not for machines.
It is said that “content is king”, and for a good reason. When two sites highly optimized in a particular industry for a particular key phrase compete, this is
one of the most important areas Search Engines evaluate for relevancy, and
therefore positioning. Keep your content updated either by adding new, or by
editing existing one. The relation between content and its freshness is a must.
Tell me who links to you, who you link to, and I will tell you who you are.
Yes, linking is that important in SEO. You must have incoming links, but what really matters, is that you must have quality incoming links, and you must build them all naturally. Search Engines reward sites when their links are build steadily over time.
By the way, since we are talking about SEO tips – i strongly suggest you get the “Instant SEO tips” by Gareth Owen – this guy really knows what he is talking about and reveals a lot of his own SEO tips and strategies. This report is well worth the money:
http://www.selfseo.com/goto/instant-seo-tips.php
Best regards,
Philipp
Jun
18
Many search engine optimization efforts are focused on pushing the home page of a site. This is a fundamental mistake that can result in the site missing out on a lot of traffic.
Go Wide, Young Man
In nearly every case, a site should be designed to draw traffic through both the home page and various internal pages. Home pages, obviously, can be tailored to the primary keyword phrases you are seeking, but don’t forget the minor pages.
I always find it odd when people ask which keyword phrase they should try to optimize for on their site. They become a bit flummoxed when I tell them to optimize for all of them. The only question is which keywords should appear on which pages.
For example, the site NomadJournals.com sells writing journals for outdoor activities such as fly fishing, traveling, hiking, bird watching and so on. So, which of these subjects should be used as the keyword phrase for the home page? None! Instead, the generic term “writing journals” was chosen. But what about the specific journal subjects?
The individual pages on the site promoting each journal are optimized for the specific product. The fly fishing journal page is optimized for fly fishing keywords, the travel page for travel keywords and so on. The end result of this is the home page is appearing high in “writing journals” search results, while each of the internal journal pages are also appearing high.
This can often lead to an interesting visitor situation. As you review your server stats, you may start noting a majority of your traffic is coming in through internal site pages, not the home page. In the above Nomad Journals scenario, the travel journal page far outdraws the home page, which makes for a nice revenue increase.
The home page of a site is critical in a search engine optimization campaign. Just keep in mind it isn’t the only page that can draw free traffic and revenues to your site.
Regards,
Philipp
Jun
18
| De-mystifying Landing Page Optimization
Posted: 31 May 2010 09:02 AM PDT When a website is finally getting respectable traffic, enjoying a decent page rank (PR), and already at the first pages of search engine results, is it time to break out the champagne in celebration? The shrewd website owner knows this is just halfway through the journey to a successful income-generating website. The end-goal is still how to turn visitors into buying customers. The bottom line is sales conversion, and this is an even harder hurdle to overcome. It all boils down to what the users do when they get into the site. Do they click on links and advertisements? Do they spend a lot of time reading or browsing products? And most importantly, do they buy? To convert audience from just-curious exploring visitors into actively purchasing ones, website owners should venture into the realms of landing page optimization. Shedding Light on Landing Page Optimization Experts rely on certain information to optimize the landing page. Some data may come from search criteria used by users to get to the site, or user demographics and buying habits. With this data the page is re-designed to appeal to users. Another way to optimize is based on the results of an experimentation, wherein users are led to several versions of the landing page to see which version is more appealing to them. The most common experimentation is through A/B split testing involving two versions of the page. Although this method is inexpensive and makes for easier analysis and decision-making, the decision maybe flawed by inadequate data that takes no account of many external elements – banner, layout, color theme, text copy, etc. — not contained in only two versions. Another landing page optimization that is more complex in execution, tools used, and statistical analysis is multi-variate LPO. Multi-variate LPO incorporates more elements that can be combined to come up with better landing page versions. When testing versions of landing pages that accounts for multiple variables instead of just two, the site gets the most accurate analysis of visitor preferences, the factors that can make them buy, and which page version is the best combination that gets the best reaction from users. Tips to Better Landing Page Optimization When website owners decide to launch their landing page optimization, they should do so with careful consideration. The undertaking involves resources and a certain degree of risk. If not done correctly, LPO can end up costing money but little results. Here are some tips to make the effort effective and easier:
Debbie A. Everson is the CEO of SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Read my SEO Blog for hints and tips. Follow me on Twitter @searchmar. Call 1.866.885.6263 to speak to one of our SEO Consultants and receive your free consultation. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
Jun
18
Today we are going to talk about keyword research for your website. If you will target the wrong keywords with your SEO campaign you will lose the battle even before it begins. Nowadays you can not expect to rank for broad match highly competitive keywords like “web hosting” or “dating” – the sites that are on the first page of Google (and that should be your primary goal) are several years old and have tens or hundred of thousands backlinks, it is almost impossible to outrank them with a brand new website within a short period of time.
On the other side, it would be easy to rank on the first place for the phrase “cool and stupid shoe widgetization” but who will search for that ?
So our goal is to find long tail keywords that are related to your website’s theme that have many searches per month and low competition. All the SEO gurus are calling that “niche marketing”. Niche marketing is the way to go for us webmasters that don’t have 7 figure budgets and a staff of hundred people to back up our SEO campaigns.
There are unlimited amount of niches that you have never heard of. Niches like “shiny steel can openers” and “dstt cards”. “World of Warcraft mining guide” and “fish oil supplements”. Find such a niche that is not too competitive, do a proper keyword research, write content around that topic and voila – you have got a niche website that is getting easy traffic and hopefully generates some money. Not all niches are money makers though but a lot of them can make money with Adsense or affiliate products. If there is no product you can create your own ans sell it, but that is another topic.
We will stay on track with the keyword research. There are a lot of keyword tools out there that makes our life easier.
As an example, let’s assume we have a website that is selling baseball bats. Now if you thought that your goal is to rank first for “baseball bats”, good luck with that. Your goal is to rank for a lot of low competing keywords related to baseball bats.
Now let’s see what Google can tell us about baseball bats. Goto the Google’s keyword tool that will provide us with some tips:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Enter “baseball bats” (WITHOUT quotes) in the keyword field, enter the captha string and press “Get keyword ideas”. You will get a lot of related keywords among with number of searches per month on the Google network. Cool eh ? Now click on “Global Monthly Search Volume” to sort it by the amount of searches per month.
You see that the top searched term is baseball bat (surprise!) 450.000 searches per month is a lot of traffic if you rank first. All numers can vary depending on your location and time but this is just an example. Now let us check the competition for that term. Go to Google’s search and search for “baseball bat” (again, WITHOUT quotes). Whoa ! “Results 1 – 10 of about 16,600,000″. Ok, but actually that is not the real amount of competing sites exactly for that search term. That means 16,600,000 pages have both or only one of the words “baseball” and “bat”.
Now let’s see how many pages are containing exactly this keyword phrase “baseball bat”. Search for it WITH QUOTES this time, exactly like “baseball bat”. 3,800,000 results. Much better but still almost impossible to beat.
Let’s get back to Google’s keyword tool and see what terms people are also looking for. The more searches the better of course. Two or three word combinations that are getting a lot of searches are much easier to rank for. Hmmm, “senior baseball bats” ? Let’s check that one. It is still getting around 4,400 searches per month so if you COULD hit the #1 on Google for that, it would mean like 50 – 100 free visitors per day (it always depends on the niche, how appealing your page title is etc etc, but you got the idea).
Search for “senior baseball bats” in Google (WITH quotes). What? Only 4,710 competing pages? Cool! Now let me tell you what – with this number of competitors you can hit at least the first page of Google within two weeks.
Do a dedicated page for “Senior baseball bats”, make sure this term is once in title, once in description, once in <h1> tag on page and 2-3 times within your on page text. Don’t overdo it though and make sure the text still reads nicely. You don’t want to scary off your visitors with a bad written copy. List all your bats that are suitable for seniors on this page. Link to that page with the link text “Senior baseball bats” within your site navigation and place some links to that page from other websites with that links text (I recommend to alternate it a bit tough, like “Baseball bats for seniors”, Senior baseball bat” etc). Link building will be another topic within my email series, so stay tuned.
Ok, now rinse and repeat. Build pages around other keywords on your theme. Try to dig deeper. Enter “Senior baseball bats” into the Google’s keyword tool and see what will come up. Build pages for these keywords if they are worth it. Study your traffic stats. You have a page about senior baseball bats but a lot of people are coming to your website while searching for “Senior wooden baseball bats” because you rank on the 6th place for that term ? Build a page about senior wooden baseball bats. There is gold hidden in the traffic logs.
Some things to consider:
Ideally, you are looking for 2-4 words combinations that have more than 10,000 searches per month and less than 20,000 competing websites – usually it is fairly easy to hit the first page of Google with these. Although it is also depending on factors like your niche, how much you are making per visitor etc. Just try it out with and easy keywords and with a harder one to figure out your range.
Even if there are a few competitors, always check the sites that are on the first page. Authority sites like Wikipedia, university sites and such usually have tons of backlinks and are hard to beat
Check if there are some Google Adwords ads for your keyword – if yes, that usually means that this keyword converts. And that’s what we want, right? But don’t freak about it – keep in mind that Adword ads might be targeted only to some countries and you won’t see them depending on where you live.
Google search numbers might not be very accurate but will give you a basic idea about a popularity of a keyword. Another good keyword research tool is http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/ – it might give you more keyword ideas.
If you are serious about keyword research, I strongly recommend the Micro Niche Finder. This will be one of the best investments you have ever made. When I have found this tool, I have cut my keyword research time by like 80%. You can find more related keywords, check competition, dig for more keywords and check more search networks with a single click.
This tool can do a lot more than just keyword research – it will help you to profit from article marketing, Yahoo Answers, Squidoo etc. Do yourself a favor and watch the free videos that are available on their website:
That’s it for this issue, I hope it was informative for you and will point you to the right direction to get started with the keyword research. If there is something unclear, feel free to email me back and ask. You will help me to make this guide better. Thank you for your time!
Best regards,
Philipp Kostins
www.selfseo.com
Jun
18
| SEO Article Writing: How To Write A Keyword Rich Title
Posted: 26 May 2010 09:34 AM PDT Writing a keyword rich article title is beneficial to your article, but is it possible to balance SEO article writing with writing that also appeals to human readers? Certainly! If you follow the techniques and advice in this article, you will be creating titles that make sense, grab the reader’s attention, and accurately portray what your article is about. Here’s where many people go wrong: They write their article, then they say: “Now I need to figure out a way to get my keyword phrase into my title.” Sometimes this afterthought approach works, but most of the time it doesn’t. When you create your article and title and then backtrack and try to get your keyword phrase in your headline, the result often looks unnatural and does not make sense. Here’s the trick: Do the opposite. Instead of finishing by trying to force your keywords into your already constructed article and title, use your keywords as a beginning point. Take your keyword phrase and brainstorm some natural sounding titles that incorporate that phrase. Then, write an article to satisfy the title. Let’s look at some examples of keyword rich titles (listing the keyphrase first, then the titles):
Each one of these titles makes sense, is comprehensible to a human reader, and is engaging enough to catch the attention of a reader interested in any of these topics. These titles are keyword rich, while still appealing to human readers. This is what you’re going for! Notice that each of these phrases is a long tail keyword phrase (3-5 words long). When you are doing your keyword research you will come up with a list of long tail keyphrases and a list of 2 word keyword phrases. The long tail phrases are to be used in generating article titles and topics. The shorter main phrases are to be used in your resource boxes. Does It Matter Where I Put My Keyphrase In My Title? You may notice that some of the sample titles have the targeted phrase at the beginning of the title. If you can manage it in a natural sounding way, try to include the phrase at the beginning of the title. If not, don’t worry about it. The point is not to use a strict title formula each time. Your goal is to generate quality titles that will attract readers, convey what the article is about, and also incorporate the keyphrase in a natural sounding way. If you come up with a great title that has the keyword phrase at the middle or the end of the title, then that’s fine. Focus on creating titles that are interesting and appealing to your target readers. After you have gone through your list of long tail keywords and generated a few titles for each, then pick a title and write an article for it. You see, this is the reverse of what many people do–take your key phrase, then brainstorm titles, then write an article that fulfills what the title promises. The result is a natural looking title and article. This is the type of article and title that readers, publishers, and search engines will love. For more info on how you can use article marketing to reach thousands of potential prospects for your website, go now to http://www.submityourarticle.com/report . Steve Shaw is an article marketing expert and founder of the popular article distribution service http://www.submityourarticle.com used by thousands of business owners. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
Jun
18
| 15 Proven Copywriting Techniques to Help Improve Your Sales Conversions
Posted: 24 May 2010 09:11 AM PDT I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” This is especially true, when it comes to copywriting techniques. The same timeless copywriting techniques that were so successful fifty years ago, are just as effective today. In fact, some of the greatest ads in the history of advertising were written during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. This exciting time period was known as The Golden Age of Advertising. In that regard, I’ve decided to compile a list of time-tested copywriting techniques to help improve your sales conversions. Please don’t look for anything new here. Like I said earlier, these time-tested techniques are just as effective today as they were fifty years ago. However, with the advent of the Internet, sometimes we need to be reminded of that fact. 1. Always Use a Compelling Headline Readers will decide whether or not to read your ad, based solely on how compelling your headline is. And if your headline doesn’t capture the readers imagination, your ad is pretty much destined to fail. That’s how critically important it is to get the readers attention. In essence, your headline needs to act like a big red stop sign. Your headline has to make readers slam on their eyeball brakes. This is especially true for online copy, because Internet users are notorious scanners. If you would like to learn how to write effective headlines, I highly recommend you check out Brian Clark’s outstanding copywriting blog, CopyBlogger. 2. Get Right to the Point After your headline gets the readers attention, next, you want to get them interested in your product or service. You do that by immediately delivering what your headline promises. In other words, respect the readers time and get right to the point. That way, the reader can decide immediately if she wants to continue reading the rest of your copy. Whatever you do, don’t string your readers along unnecessarily with a bunch of fluff designed to fill out your ad. For instance, did you notice how got quickly I got right to the point in this article? 3. Long Copy vs. Short Copy There’s been a debate going on in Internet Marketing circles for several years about long copy vs. short copy. I’m going to end that debate right now. Research has shown that long copy usually outperforms short copy – provided the copy is well-written and interesting. Every single day, people read long newspaper and magazine articles, as well as novels. They will read your long copy IF it is interesting. That being said, I don’t believe you should intentionally set out to write long copy. Only make your copy as long as it needs to be to effectively sell your product or service. No longer. 4. Use Subheads and Bullet Points Subheads and bullet points are important, because they serve two purposes: 1. They break up your copy, so that it’s easier to read. 2. They act like stop signs. Remember what I said earlier? Internet users are notorious scanners. They’ll scan your copy first, before deciding whether or not to actually read it. That’s why compelling subheads and bullet points are so important. 5. Write the Way You Talk Writing the way you talk is known as “conversational copy.” What’s conversational copy? Conversational copy simply means talking to the reader in a conversational manner – like you’re talking to your best friend. 6. Keep it Simple Don’t try to be cute or clever with your writing. The purpose of copywriting is to sell products – not impress readers with your brilliance. keep your writing simple, instead of composing riddles or using sophisticated jargon. The goal of your copy should be to entice readers to buy what you’re selling – period. Leave the riddles to The Riddler. 7. It’s Not About You You may be a very nice person – the salt of the earth, in fact. That being said, readers don’t care about “YOU.” The only thing they care about is what can you do to help them solve their problem? “What’s in it for ME?” That’s all your readers really care about. Remember, it’s not about you. It’s about your readers. 8. Always Sell Benefits When you write copy, don’t make the mistake of focusing on features instead of benefits. There’s a huge difference. Features are the sizzle. Benefits are the steak. Features are distinctive characteristics that distinguishes your product or service from similar items. Benefits, on the other hand describe how your product or service will help the customer solve her problem. In other words, what the customer will gain by using your product or service. For example, let’s suppose your company sells light bulbs. A couple of features of your light bulbs may be the fact they burn cooler than normal bulbs and are guaranteed to last 10 years. However, the benefits customers will derive from purchasing your light bulbs is the amount of money they will save on their electric bill, as well as the amount of money they will save not having to buy new bulbs every few months. 9. Be Specific To make your copywriting as compelling as possible, you should always be specific. For example, instead of saying “lose weight” say, “lose 10 pounds in 10 days!” That’s a much more compelling statement. Be specific. 10. Use Testimonials Using testimonials from current customers is an extremely powerful way to reassure prospects. But you have to do it correctly. Always use your customers full name and where they live. For example, David Jackson, Albany, NY, as opposed to initials only. When you read a testimonial written by DJ, New York, chances are it’s a bogus testimonial. NEVER use bogus testimonials, or you will find yourself in trouble with the FTC. 11. Offer a FREE Bonus Offering a free bonus is one of the most effective copywriting techniques you can use. Not only does it give prospective customers extra incentive to purchase your product or service, free bonuses have been proven to dramatically increase sales conversions. The best type of free bonus is something unique – something that has real value – something that you can afford to give away cost-effectively. 12. Use a P.S. Readership studies show that after the headline, readers scan down to the end of the sales letter to read the P.S. (post- script). This means that the P.S is the second-most read part of a sales letter. Use this knowledge wisely. Make your post-script as potent as possible. Use it to summarize your offer, and as a final “call to action” to make prospects BUY NOW! Here’s an example of an effective post-script: P.S. Order NOW, and receive a FREE Blackberry. But only if you Order NOW! One last thing. You’ve probably seen sales letters that use multiple post-scripts. I strongly disagree with this practice. In my opinion, using multiple post-scripts dilutes the effectiveness of your P.S. 13. Use Bold Type and Highlighting Sparingly The overuse of bold, italics and highlighting in copywriting is rampant. Seriously. I’ve seen ads and sales letters that were so overly-highlighted, they looked like a big mustard sandwich with ants…hideous! Unfortunately, I see this all too often with sales copy, as well as other types of copy. You should use bold type and highlight sparingly, and only to emphasize certain words, sentences or paragraphs. If you overdo it with these tools, you dramatically dilute their effectiveness. Then it becomes impossible to effectively “highlight” (no pun intended) the points you were trying to emphasize. Remember, “when you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing!” 14. Test Your Copy Testing is a critical element of successful marketing. You should always test your copy, to make sure that you are obtaining optimum results. Experiment with different headlines in your ads and sales letters. Tweak your copy to increase conversion rates. You’d be surprised what a difference changing a few words here and there can make. Did you know changing a single word in a headline has been known increase response by as much as 1700%? It’s true. That’s why testing your copy is so important. The easiest way to test your copy is with multi-variate testing software, such as Google’s Website Optimizer. By the way, when tweaking your copy, don’t make wholesale changes all at once. Tweak a little bit at a time. For example, test different headlines and subheads first, before delving into the body of your ad or sales letter. 15. Give a Strong Guarantee One of the best things you can do to reassure prospective customers and give them peace of mind is to offer a strong guarantee. Unfortunately, some marketers are afraid to guarantee their products for fear of being hit with a mountain of refund requests. Their fear is unfounded. Here’s the truth: If you provide good value for the dollar, statistics show that less than 2% of your customers will ask for a refund. In fact, even if you offer lousy value, most people just won’t go through the hassles of requesting a refund. That’s a fact. Here’s something else to consider. Offering s strong guarantee has been known to increase sales dramatically. So, how long should your guarantee be? At least 30 days. But if you really believe in your product, the longer, the better. About the author David Jackson is a marketing consultant, and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful, free marketing tips to help grow your business. http://free-marketing-tips-blog.com Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources 15 Proven Copywriting Techniques to Help Improve Your Sales Conversions |
Jun
18
The time has come to list the top 10 SEO mistakes committed by website owners worldwide.
If you are not too happy about your website’s rankings on the search engines, then look through this list and make sure that the website is not committing any of these mistakes.
I’ve decided to divide this article into 2 sections: on page SEO and off page SEO mistakes. As you read through this article, you will realise that the mistakes covered here are all based on my previous articles about SEO.
On Page SEO Mistakes
This section refers to SEO mistakes made on your actual website.
1. Not Targeting 1 Keyword Per Page
This is the most important facet of on page SEO yet so many people are either unaware of its importance or forget to do it. It’s heaps easier to target a single keyword per page than to target 10 keywords per page. At the very maximum, you can target 2 keywords but you should try to keep it to just one. Focusing your efforts on 1 keyword per page will get greater results quicker. I can guarantee it.
2. No Keyword In URL
The URL of each page should have the keyword you are targeting for that page. If it doesn’t, then it’s just going to be harder for you to get that page ranking for that target keyword. Fix up your URL if you have to because this is crucial to SEO success.
3. No Keyword In Title Tag
I cannot count the number of pages I’ve been webpages not have their target keyword in the title tag. Just in case you’re not aware, the title tag is what appears at the top of your browser when you’re on a webpage. This is the one mistake I see the most because it is so obvious when I visit a webpage. It’s amazing how many home pages of websites have the word “Home” in their title tags. You MUST have the target keyword in your title tag because it will make a huge difference to your SEO efforts. This is certainly one of the top 10 SEO mistakes out there today.
4. Bad Use Of Meta Description And Meta Keywords
The most common mistake regarding meta description is people not using it at all. Just in case you weren’t aware, the meta description is a short description which is used to describe your website in search engine result listings. You should use it to encourage people to visit your website when they find you on the search engines. It’s also doesn’t hurt to have your target keyword there.
Regarding meta keywords, the most common mistake people commit is putting too many keywords there. You should limit yourself to a maximum of 5 to 8 keywords because putting more will only get you punished by the search engines for keyword spamming.
5. Bad Keyword Density
Unfortunately, many people are still committing this grave SEO mistake. Some are mentioning their target keyword as much as possible on their webpage to try and get it to rank highly. It used to work in the early days on the Web when engines were not intelligent but these days it can only guarantee your websites getting punished or even banned.
On the other hand, there are also people who do not use their keyword enough on their webpages. This is equally bad because it means that the search engines have no idea as to what keyword your webpage is trying to rank highly for.
When it comes to keyword density, your goal should be 3% which is not too much and not too little for good SEO results.
Off Page SEO Mistakes
This section refers to SEO mistakes made outside your website, but which hamper your website’s ability to rank highly on the search engines.
6. Bad Keyword Research
Keyword research is the basis for SEO success. If you target keywords with a high level of competition, then your ability to rank highly and get traffic will be diminished in the short term. On the other hand, you should not simply target keywords because of low competition because there may not be enough people searching for that keyword. It’s all about finding a balance between the number of searches and the number of websites competing for that keyword. Using tools such as Google Keyword Tool can help you achieve that objective.
7. No Keyword In Anchor Text
Off page SEO is all about building backlinks aka links back to your website. Nevertheless, while doing that, most people forget to put their keywords in the anchor text of the backlink. For example, if “computer repairs” was the primary keyword of your website, then you want to be sure that computer repairs is in the anchor text, just like in the following:
“Visit the best computer repairs service in town.”
Please note that the above is just an example.
This must be one of the most simple top 10 SEO mistakes committed today.
8. No Anchor Text Variety
While it’s great to use your target keyword in the anchor text of your backlinks, you must also mix and match with other keywords. In other words, if you use the same keywords in the anchor text of 100 links, then the search engines will regard this as suspicious and will punish your website. For this reason, you should find about 5 other related keywords and use them in your anchor text too. The greater the variety, the better your SEO results will be.
9. No Link Source Variety
There are plenty of ways to get backlinks, however, one of the top 10 SEO mistakes committed by people too often is by using only a minimal amount of link sources. For example, some people simply use article marketing to get their backlinks. Others just use social media. You need to be using a large range of sources to get your backlinks. The reason why this is the case is that the more sources you utilise, the more natural the backlinks will appears to the search engines, and the higher it will rank.
10. No Natural Build Up Of Links
Building on the previous mistake, you have to make sure that the amount of backlinks your website gets takes place in a natural, human-like manner. For instance, getting 300 links in just a single week will certainly grab the attention of the search engines and as a result, they will punish your website accordingly. However, if you get 300 links over the course of a month, then that will appear to be more natural and they will more than likely than not reward you.
Fix Them And Then Avoid Them
I suggest that you go through all of your websites and see whether they are committing the SEO mistakes covered in this post. After correcting them, it’s all about avoiding these common SEO mistakes so that your website get the rankings and traffic they thoroughly deserve.
Martin Sejas – If you are looking for an SEO consulting service based in Sydney which can guarantee results for your website, don’t forget to register for your free consultation.
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources
Jun
18
One of my favorite things I like to do when I’m online is browse the Internet, and check out other marketing websites. I’m an avid reader, so when I come across a well-designed website that appears to have an abundance of quality content, I’ll usually spend a few minutes on the site reading that content.And if the site provides a pleasant reader experience, I’ll bookmark it and visit it again.
However, it takes a very special website to capture my attention. And unfortunately, most sites fall far short of my expectations. As a result, I rarely bookmark websites. No, more often than not, when I visit a website, I click away after just a second or two.
Why? Because in my opinion, many websites just aren’t what I would call reader-friendly. In fact, they’re just the opposite. They provide a lousy reader experience.
Following are five things that ruin my reader experience:
1. Too Busy Web Pages
Have you ever visited a web page that was so busy and overcrowded your eyes didn’t know what to focus on? The tragedy of these types of web pages is some of them probably have content that readers would be interested in.
But the web pages are so doggone clutttered and disorganized, visitors can’t find what they’re looking for – or are too frustrated to even try.
When you design your website, arrange items in a neat and orderly fashion. Space things out. Because when it comes to website design, a little white space is a good thing.
Also, if you don’t already have one, install a sitemap. The following website will allow you to quickly and easily create your own sitemap right online:
In addition to a sitemap, installing an internal search box will also improve your visitors reading experience, as well as assist them in finding the information that they’re seeking. This is especially important if you have a large website with lots of pages.
If you would like to learn more about installing an internal search box on your site, TechSoup has written an excellent article on the topic, titled Adding a Search Engine to Your Site Is Easier than You Think:
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/archives/page9353.cfm
2. Reverse Type
I’m absolutely amazed at how many websites I’ve visited that are written in reverse text. What’s reverse text? Reverse text is light colored or white text on a dark or black background. If used correctly, reverse text can produce an impressive visual impact.
The problem is many websites don’t use it correctly. And if you have a whole web page of reverse text, it’s extremely difficult on the eyes.
Why? Because according to readability studies, reverse text is not suitable for reading because of its poor legibility even in normal lighting conditions. It’s hard on the eyes, and just not reader-friendly. That’s why newspapers, books and magazines have always been printed on white paper with black text.
When designing your website, it’s best to use black text on a white or light-colored background, for optimum readability. However if you decide to use reverse text, use it in moderation.
3. Huge Blocks of Text
Internet users are notorious scanners. They’ll scan your text first, before deciding whether or not to actually read it. That’s why you should always break up your text into short, reader-friendly paragraphs.
When I come across a web page that has these huge blocks of text, (ie, paragraphs that never seem to end), I won’t even waste my valuable time trying to read it. I’ll just click away, and leave your site.
And if I feel that way, you can bet other visitors to your site feel the exact same way. Again, always break up your text into short paragraphs. In addition, use bullets and subheads whenever possible. They help break up your text, so that it’s easier to read.
Remember what I said earlier? Internet users are notorious scanners. That’s why subheads and bullets are so important.
4. Tiny Font Sizes
Do you remember the nearsighted cartoon character, Mr. Magoo? He always walked around with his eyes in a permanent squint, trying to visually decipher things that were right in front of him.
Well, that’s exactly how I feel when I visit some websites. I find myself squinting like Mr. Magoo, because the font size is so tiny. When that happens, guess what? Click…I’m outta there.
Do your readers a favor, and stay away from tiny font sizes. Stick with the standard 12-point font size, whenever possible.
Conversely, it’s not a good ideal to use overly large font sizes either. It’s just not reader-friendly. Another thing, use ALL CAPS and fancy fonts in moderation.
5. Excessive Bold Type and Highlighting
The other day I was browsing the Internet doing research, when I came across something that caught my eye – but not in a good way. It was a web page, and it was absolutely hideous. So, what made it so hideous?
The entire web page written entirely in bold type, which is a crime in itself. But even worse than that, the page was highlighted in yellow from top to bottom.
Can you imagine that? It looked like a big mustard sandwich with ants.
Unfortunately, I see this all too often on websites. You should always use bold type and highlight in moderation, and only to emphasize certain words, sentences or paragraphs.
In closing, I hope you’ll take these reader-friendly website design tips to heart, and apply them to your website, if applicable. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression.
Because if your visitors have an unpleasant reader experience, chances are, they won’t be coming back.
David Jackson is a marketing consultant, and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful, free marketing tips to help grow your business. http://free-marketing-tips-blog.com
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources