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The Painful Truth About Getting Your Website to the Top of the Search Engines
By Ivana Katz (c) 2010

"How do I get my website to come up on top of the search
engines?" - That is one of the most frequently asked
questions I get asked by clients.

The truth is, it's not easy. With millions of websites on
the internet right now and thousands being added each
month, everyone is striving to do the same - to come up in
the first spot (or on the first page).

In reality there are only 2 ways you can come up on top:

  1. Set up a pay-per-click advertising campaign, such as
     Google Adwords.

  2. Optimize your website for keywords (also known as
     Search Engine Optimization).

Keywords

Before you embark on either of these marketing methods, you
need to understand about keywords.

Keywords or key phrases are the words that visitors type
into a search engine to find a service or product. The
best keywords are those that are commonly typed in by your
potential customers, but which aren't used much on your
competitors' websites. In other words, if you optimize your
pages for keywords your potential customers use a lot, but
your competitors haven't thought of, you win. But here's
the catch...you'll never get to know which are the best
keywords for your website simply by guessing.

There are many tools you can use to find what keywords
people are using, including Google's Keyword Suggestion
Tool.

If you are serious about finding the perfect keywords, I
would recommend using a tool called Wordtracker -
www.wordtracker.com. Through a series of simple steps,
Wordtracker identifies the best keywords to use on each
page of your website. Wordtracker's suggestions are based
on over 300 million keywords and phrases that people have
used over the previous 90 days. (In other words, there is
no "guessing" when you use Wordtracker. Everything is based
on the keywords millions of people have actually typed into
search engines.)

Best of all, their competitive analysis tool enables you to
find those "best keywords" - the ones your potential
customers use, but which your competitors don't know about.

Once you have identified the best keywords, you can either
run a pay-per-click marketing campaign or optimize your
website for search engines.

Pay-Per-Click

Pay-per-click advertising is when an advertiser (you) pays
for each qualified click that sends a search engine user to
your web page.  PPC requires you to bid on keywords or
phrases that relate to your business. The best known pay-
per-click services are Google AdWords and Overture.
Generally you can bid from as little as a few cents per
visitor. However, the more you bid, the higher up in the
search engine your advertisement will appear. Pay-per-
click is a great way to deliver targeted and qualified
visitors to your website at a very reasonable price.

It is a good idea to experiment with different PPC search
engines to find the one that works best for you. In
addition, you will need to spend time testing your keywords
and ads.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engines prefer to list sites that contain good
content. In order to rank high you need to create a
website that has maximum content and which uses lots of
relevant keywords to your service and products.

Once you decide on the keywords, use them in

(a) Your website's domain name
(b) The title of your page - This is displayed in the top
    bar of your browser window
(c) The heading of your home page
(d) The first paragraph of your home page
(e) Meta tags - Keywords, page title, description
(f) Titles of your graphics
(g) Alternative (Alt) tags - These appear in place of
    images when the browser preferences are set for text
    only.

While it is important to use keywords as much as possible,
it is also important you use them only if they are relevant
and do not sound awkward. If you spam your keywords, you
may be penalized or even banned by some search engines.

Another important thing to consider when trying to optimize
your website for search engines is to have as many relevant
links pointing back to your website from other
complementary sites as possible. This can be done through
link exchanges or by writing articles/posts and submitting
them to article directories or forums. Ensure you include
your domain name at the end of each article/post.

If this all seems too overwhelming, you can employ the
services of a Search engine optimization company that will
make your website's content more search engine friendly.

Please remember, having your website listed at the top of
the search engines is not the only way to promote your
website. There are lots of other ways you can get visitors
to your site for little or no money.
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Ivana Katz of Websites 4 Small Business makes it easy for
you to get your business on the internet. If you're looking
for a professional and affordable website designer, visit
http://www.web4business.com.au and download a free website
plan. Join us on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/Websites4SmallBusiness
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