I seem to have created quite a stir, on a particular SEO forum recently. In fact, rumor has it, at one point, my article, "Google's Trap, DMOZ's Nap, And Yahoo!'s Crap" was the hottest topic discussed on this particular forum.The aforementioned article was also bestowed the title of, "Worst SEO Article Ever" by someone on the forum.Why all the animus? I have no idea. Perhaps they view me as a threat to their livelihood. Whatever the reason, certain SEO's seem to be taking my articles personally. That's their problem!My articles are not aimed directly at SEO's or search engines per se. My articles are aimed at the people who utilize their services.I'm trying to get these people to realize, they can't depend solely on search engines and search engine optimization. You have to have a multi-pronged attack.I don't depend on the search engines! I never have. I refuse to play that game. My traffic comes from the dozens of articles I've written that have been picked up and published on popular web sites all over the Internet. I also get traffic via word of mouth, newsletters and ezines that my articles are published in, and a few other secret methods that I use. And you can do the same thing. You just have to get out of that search engine mindset. There are many other proven and effective ways to market your web site. Here are just a few: e-zines, newsletters, forums, online magazines, sponsor listings on other web sites, exchanging links. Here are a few offline options: magazines, direct mail, shopper newspapers, cable television, radio, flyers, hospital newsletters, card decks, trade journals and directories, bulletin boards, tabloid newspapers. Yes, I know Google and Yahoo! are the biggest, most powerful search engine and directory on the planet! Forget about them! Why? Because despite what certain corrupt SEO's may claim, they CANNOT guarantee you a top ten listing in either Google or Yahoo!No legitimate SEO would ever make that kind of guarantee in the first place. They couldn't, because they know they wouldn't be able to deliver on that promise. Now they may be able to get you to the top of the search engines with certain less popular keywords. However, what good does it do you to rank number one for keywords that nobody searches for?I want to make one thing perfectly clear, right now. I am not suggesting that all SEO's are corrupt. I don't believe that for a second. There are many fine, honest and hardworking SEO's out there, who are doing a wonderful job for their clients. I have the utmost respect for people like Jill Whalen, Bruce Clay, Robert Woodhead and many, many other fine and reputable SEO experts. These individuals don't over-hype their services or your expectations.They also have excellent rankings on the search engines. So, they definitely know what they're doing.Then, there's the other end of the spectrum--the companies that give good SEO's like the aforementioned a bad name. I'm sure you've all seen some of these headlines:"Top 10 and Top 20 Rankings Guaranteed!""Guaranteed Number 1 Ranking!""Guaranteed Top Ranking!""Top 10 Placement Guaranteed!"Well, the next time you see this kind of advertisement, make a mental note to check out that company's ranking. You'll be shocked at what you find out. Some of these companies making these outrageous claims are ranked at number 3 million. That's not an exaggeration!Now let me point out something very important to you. A company's search engine ranking doesn't always tell the whole story. I know of many companies making a nice living on the Internet that aren't ranked that highly in the search engines. You probably know a few yourself. You may even be one of those companies.However, if you're considering hiring an SEO, I think where they rank is very important. Why? Because if they aren't capable of getting their own web site a high ranking, how can they possibly achieve a high ranking for someone else? They can't!You should bear that in mind, when checking out SEO's....
If you are creating a website or working on a site you've already created, the content of the site is one of the most important factors for successful search engine marketing. The pages you create should provide valuable information that references very specific terms and concepts that are unique to your website.Text is one part of the content that is important for being found in search engines. Search engines usually read and index the first 500 words from each page they successfully crawl. The text within that span of words is one factor that helps to determine your relevance for a particular search term.If you are successful at weaving your keywords into compelling copy (remember humans are your primary reader) you are more likely to be relevant for keyword searches. Once your site has been up and running for three months, run a report on your log files to determine what keywords people are using to find your site.You might be surprised if the most popular keywords that do find your site don't match up to keywords you already had in mind and were using. The web is a great educator about how to succeed. Your site might be very popular for search terms that you hadn't thought of when you built it. When people use search engines, they aren't typing in generic terms that are hard to define and measure like "business" or "software". People use search engines for very specific names and phrases, terms like "Inkjet printer cartridge refills". You wouldn't have thought to include that specific phrase in your content because it doesn't read very well. But if all those words are located in a web page carefully constructed to highlight keywords that are known to produce traffic, the likelihood that you will appear in a search result for a very specific search improves. You must be diligent in understanding how people are getting to your site and focus on providing quality content that is geared towards the audience that is trying to find you. Be as specific as you can. You'll improve the quality and quantity of visitors you get from search engines.It's also important to understand that you cannot trick the search engines. Flooding the engines with multiple versions of the same page, repeating the same term over and over - these tactics will only lead to negative traffic from search engines and the likelihood that your site could be banned from being listed in a search engine.We mentioned earlier that the text on your website was one part of the content that's important for being found at search engines. Another important part of the equation is your link popularity. By focusing on quality content, your website becomes more likely to have someone naturally link to it without having to request it. You can read more about link popularity here....