Help 2 SEO

Are you new to SEO or just want some SEO help then the Econsultancy SEO Guide is place to look.

The SEO Best Practice guide at over 200 pages is packed full of SEO tips and help. The guide takes you through a proven SEO process and for each step in the process gives you all the details you need. This is not generic stuff but real proven useful information that a lot of Search Engine Optimization or Internet marketing agencies are keeping secret from you.

Rather than spend $300-$500 on an website audit I would recommend joining Econsultancy where you will then get this best practice guide along with many other useful reports, guides and templates.

Keywords analysis and keywords research is the most critical thing you will do when planning to start a new website. To search engine optimize a website that had good keywords analysis before a line of code was written is significantly easier than a website that was changed to meet keyword phrases.

So what is a keyword phrase? – When anyone wants to find something on a search engine they type a number of words into the search box and hit search. These words are known as keyword phrases. The search engine will then look through its index of web pages trying to find the most relevant sites.

Lots of SEO companies will tell you that on-site optimization is essential and this is true but any optimization will only be as good as the keyword phrases you have researched and chosen.

Thus, keyword analysis must be carefully executed. The analysis needs to be performed in phases, and for each of the phrases researched we need to collect the following information for each keyword:

• Search volume – the number of searches made for this term
• Competition – the number of other sites that are competing for the phrase
• Competitors – the top 5 websites listing in results pages for the phrase

A useful FREE keyword analysis tool is Traffic Travis that gives lots of help around this research.

The three phases of keyword research are:

1. Identify Generic Keywords Phrases. The first step is to investigate the generic terms around your line of business. These are typically the terms people use when browsing for information on a topic and will not necessarily bring buyers into your website. For example, Coast Accommodation or Beach Accommodation.
2. Identify Niche Keywords. From the generic list we need to now find a niche in the market. Typically generic terms will have high number of requests and high competition. By going through each generic term and looking for niches that have a lower number of searches but with less competition will allow us to get a better ranking faster. An example niche could be Florida Beach Accommodation or Greek Islands Accommodation.
3. Identify Long Tail. Now we have a number of niches selected we can find the specific keywords that will bring in visitors that want to buy our service or product. If you think about it people may well be looking for cheap hotels or to compare hotels. Thus, taking your niche list play around with the following methods:
   - Adjective – add price or product qualifiers, e.g. cheap…
   - Product Type – add a product type, e.g. villa, hostel, B&B
   - Locations – e.g. Crete, Corfu, Jamaica
   - Vendor or Brands – e.g. Hilton, Holiday Inn, Marriott
   - Call to action – add words like: buy, solve, help, ways to

This will now give you your list of keyword phrases that your website needs to be targeted at. If you don’t have a website already you can now select your website domain names based on the niche selected. The advantage about doing keyword research first is that your domain name can include the keywords of your selected niche.

Once your have purchased your domain name you need to start with your website design and hosting. The first step is to host the website in your target region picking a supplier with a good track record of supporting its customers. Once your hosting plan is set-up you can now get a design company or create the website yourself. Our article on website design and hosting gives a lot more pointers to help you out here.

You should now have a website that has a domain name related to your keywords, has content or articles targeted at your keyword phrases. If you have done this correctly the website should start appearing in the search engine results but you will need to do some specific on-site optimization and off-site optimization to help your positioning in result lists.  Another option whilst your organic results are improving is to start a Pay Per Click campaign which can bring well targeted visitors into your website on day one.

Pay Per Click (PPC) is an excellent tool to a website owner to drive traffic to the website. The problem is that you have to stay on the ball and keep an idea everyday on how you are performing. If you take your eye off the game you can loose a lot of money. Also from my experience new campaigns can take up-to a month to bed down with continuous tuning and adapting based on measurements taken.

Our Pay Per Click tips will help you understand a little better what it is all about.

* Don’t think you understand everything – Expect to adjust your strategy at any moment using the Pay Per Click tips that more experienced marketeers have developed over a long time. Keep an open mind.

* Check your figures and check them again – If your products or services have a small profit margin or you have a low conversion rate, you need to address those risks first. For example, paying $0.40 a click for a $10 commission on a site with a 2% conversion rate will not make you money.

* Budgets – The first think everyone must do is to set a well defined and thought out budget. This is important for a few reasons. First, you don’t want to spend too much up front before you start seeing a return by increased visitors. Second, you need a consistent base to measure success. It is hard to compare data if you don’t have consistency over a period. Only adjust the budget once you have regular, measured, improved results. Change only one item, at a time and measure the change impact.

* Landing Pages – Have one page per Pay Per Click keyword. This means having a single ad group and URL target per keyword. You want the visitor to find exactly what the ad has promised without having to click.

* Multiple Ads – Along the same lines, make sure each ad is targeted at the landing page. If you sell a series of 10 eBooks on how to make money in real estate, target each ad to the particular book you’re trying to sell and give the ad its own keyword that have been researched and targeted to the product and its buyers.

* Use Long Tail Keywords – Any discussion on Pay Per Click tips will tell you to use long tail keywords. This means move away from the generic terms as most people looking at generic terms are browsing and not buying. For example, take “dog training”, this is a generic term and 1000′s will look form this but if you think about it people with a specific problem will focus the term a little more, for example “welsh terrier dog training”. Find ways to target questions a buyer will have just before they make a purchase. Product names, author names, and words like “review” or “buy” are great for targeting prepared buyers.

* Split test Ads – For each keyword have a single ad group and in each ad group have two ads. Keep track of which ad is better and change the lesser of the two. Over time you will get a clear winner.

* Negative Keywords – Unlike with organic search engine results where you have no cost when people click on your link you want to make sure that you don’t pay for negative keywords in PPC. Ensure you research the keywords you DON’T want included in any showings of your ad.

Above we showed just some Pay Per Click tips designed as the foundation to any Google AdWords campaign. If you follow these basics, targeting your buyer, reducing bad clicks, and always focusing on results and profits, your PPC campaign will be a big success nearly every time.

Don’t complain if you have no website visitors if you don’t have a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.

Everyone website owner or marketeer is looking for the perfect search engine optimization strategy that has an outcome of a top search engine ranking i.e. your site on page one. This can be difficult when you think all your competitors are all trying to do the same.

Any search engine optimization strategy must encompass both on site and off site optimization and I don’t think it is worth investing in off-site strategies until you have a sound website that has passed through on-site optimization.

On-site Optimization

This should be the first step in an SEO strategy and for some with low competitive search terms may well be all you need.  Don’t confuse this with Google Page Rank, Google has some 200 factors it considers of which a considerable amount are related to the website and individual pages. This phase also covers the initial writing of the pages so that when a customer lands [landing page] the page is relevant to the term they used and the call to action gets them to convert. It is NO good getting visitors to your site on a false pretense as you won’t get any money out of them.

On page optimization includes page design, page content, keyword selection and then optimization, alt tags on your images, deep navigation, seo friendly links, title tags, page speed and SEO friendly code.

FREE SEO Analysis of your website :

Off-site Optimization

Off-site optimization is a balance between a number of techniques listed below:

1. Article Marketing
   Article marketing is another search engine optimization strategy that has been around for a long time and is remains highly successful. You will write articles with a single keyword focus and this article will link back to your website using anchor text relevant to the keyword. These articles are then uploaded to article directories. This can be very time consuming and a number of article networks with automated tools have appeared like SEOLinkVine (click for more info).

   This gives you two advantages; (1) these articles provide high quality single way links to your site that the search engines index, and (2) you will get visitors directly from the article sites. Article marketing is not a one time process, you must continuously post new articles over time.

2. Trusted Site Inbound Links
   Article marketing generates inbound links, but if you want valuable inbound links, you need to find trusted sites. Trusted sites are those that Google holds in high regard or thinks are an authority on a topic. In general any domain that ends in .GOV or .EDU is regarded as a trusted site. Additionally, a few high level directories like DMOZ or Yahoo! are trusted sites, along with major forums or information resources. Google is known to hate paid links and so if you need to pay for a link you must check the site is trusted by the search engines or it could count against you.
3. Link Baiting
   If you take the time to create high quality content that people like this will naturally attract attention and over time you will find people link to the article from blogs or social bookmarking sites.  The seach engines also like this as it starts to make them think you are an authority on a subject or niche area.
4. Social Media Marketing
   Social media is not new anymore and is used by a large percentage of the population, though many marketers still don’t know how to take advantage. The goal is to use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to set yourself and your business up as an authority as well as a recognizable brand. You need to provide constant uptodate value that your followers/readers can participate in, the participate bit is key in that this is not about you telling them but about you listening and discussing with them.
5. Viral Marketing
   As a search engine optimization strategy, viral marketing is hard to measure, but can be one of the most successful ways of getting new visitors to your website. Examples of viral marketing include sending out free reports, video productions, and giving away free ebooks and software.

I hope you take away from this article that a Search Engine Optimization Strategy is a activity that is a blanace of techniques, both on-site and off-site. You don’t have to do it all at once, but do need to plan of what you will do and when you will do it, whilst keeping a measurmeent of which parts were successful and at what cost – ie. the Return on Investment (ROI).

If you are not using the strategies above, you’re missing an opportunity to get free targeted traffic for your site.  A search engine optimization strategy starts with a long term view and a detailed plan on how to get your site to the top of your niche. Use multiple strategies, test constantly, and adjust when necessary – only then will you find the traffic you’ve been dreaming of.

If you search for tools to help with performing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) you will get 1000′s of results and it becomes difficult to pick because they all promise the world but do different things. This review covers a tool called Traffic Travis and this is a all round SEO tool that comes in a FREE and paid for version. For someone starting out in SEO or whom looks after a single website the FREE version will probably be all you need.

==> For more information and to download FREE Traffic Travis click here!

Traffic Travis Features

The goal of any website is to focus on a niche and Traffic Travis is here to provide you with not only keywords, but to give you a complete overview of your niche and your competitors. So, while some of the other tools focus entirely on keyword analysis, Traffic Travis will also go into greater detail for Pay Per Click ( PPC) data and your competition’s website structure. What you get out of the box:

* Keyword Research – Takes a single search term and automatically discovers 20-2,000 related keywords by looking across all the major search engines. The result set of keywords can be saved to a file for later use.

* SEO Research – You have some selected keywords but want to know if your site is optimized for this list? Give your list of keywords along with a domain name and see where it lists within Search Engine Results (SERPS) for each keyword phrase. You can then use the Page Analysis to dive deep into your pages and see a detailed SEO report. These reports include lists of links, page ranking, traffic ranks and typical on-page optimization factors.

* PPC Data – If you are considering pay per click as will as organic search engine listings Traffic Travis will take your keywords and provide a breakdown of the number of ads for that phrase, the top sites for any given keyword, and a list of the most popular keywords. You can quickly see which phrases actually stand any chance of making you money.

* Analysis – This aspect allows you to see the top web sites for a keyword phrase along with Page Ranks, domain age, number of back links, directory listings, title tags, and all the other SEO data you’ll need. This also gives a 1-5 start rating sumarising how dificult it will be to achieve a good ranking against the keyword phrase. The lower the STARS the more time, effort and money it will take. It is often better to focus on more easier keywords that have less searches per month than less hard keywords that have many more searches per month.

* SEO mini course – This is a small mini course provided by email to help you use the tool. This will also assist people new to the concepts of SEO.

The difference between “Free” and “Professional” versions

A main differentiators with Traffic Travis is the availability of a “Free” version of the software which is OK for a single site webmaster/marketeer.

The key differences between the free and paid versions are:

• Number of projects: The free version is restricted to 5 projects.
• Data limits: The free version has lower data limits on some tools.
• Print and save reports: The free version doesn’t support this feature.

Traffic Travis Review Summary

This Traffic Travis review hopefully explains what the software has to offer. The main point to take away is that Traffic Travis can provide all of the tools you need to choose your keywords, check out your competitors, test your sites and ensure your PPC campaign has a good ROI. The one limiting factor is that it is only available on Windows so for all those MAC users you will need to use Parallels or Bootcamp and Linux users a windows VM player.

As it has a FREE version just give it a try and I am sure you will not be able to stop using it ==> For more information and to download FREE Traffic Travis click here!

A few simple pointers to help you dominate your market.

• Understand your customers’ search behaviour. Walk in your website visitors shoes and understand the interaction they have with your site. Most customers are researching or looking for a problem to solve. If you understand what problem they’re trying to solve in terms of the keywords and phrases they will type, you can provide them with a  solution to it on your landing page.

• Decide how you will track conversions. How do you know how successful your campaign is? This can be when you make a sale or possibly a lead and you’ll have to assign some kind of monetary value to that lead so you can determine how much advertising to spend in order to get it.

• The email list. The email list is your best sales tool, it is cheaper to sell to an interested party. Autoresponders are simply a way to keep in touch with your customers through newsletters via email lists.

• Do the keyword research
  - Brainstorm and test with associates
  - “spy” on your competitions’ using tools
  - use other tools to expand the core list
  - don’t focus on generic terms but go for a niche

• Group keywords by the conversation type
  - what is the potential customer looking for?
  - If you’re an estate agent, you’re prospects will be having different conversations if they’re looking to buy as opposed to someone looking to sell their house.

• Build landing pages on your site for each conversation type.  You’d want the two different potential customers above to go to two different pages within your site.  You want to highlight the different value propositions you’re bringing to the table, i.e. each page solves a single problem.

• Set up your own blog. Let everyone know your an expert in your field and use it to communicate and let people know someone exists behind the website.

• Set up your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign using the keywords, groupings and landing pages.

• Monitor and test your PPC campaign EVERY DAY
  - Split test ads every day
  - Adjust bids every day
  - Get rid of non-performing keywords every day

• As soon as a great “money term” is found, start the search engine optimization process for that term
  - Market 2-3 articles per week (or even more)
  - Make blog postings on your blog and others’
  - Answer posts on forums and yahoo answers

• Review and repeat this process every 3 months!

The web is filled with Internet marketing tips – some of them great and some of them out of date. How do you, as a website owner and Internet marketer, know which tips will help you? Below is a list of simple tips that will help you focus on, master, and generate your own Internet marketing strategies.

Internet Marketing Tips 101

Internet marketing starts and ends with your audience and how you approach them. So, before you can do anything, you need to do some research and learn about your niche and your audience.

* Niche Research – Niche research involves getting to know who your potential customers will be. Use sites like Clickbank and Amazon to review both good products and demand. On Amazon, you can find products and niches based on how many reviews a product has. More than 20 reviews means that thousands of copies have been purchased, remember that only a small percentage of purchases will leave a review. Additionally, visit forums and blogs where industry experts gather to share with interested readers. Learn the terms and the needs of your target audience.

* Keyword Research – Keyword research is probably the most ignored aspect of online money making. One of the best Internet marketing tips I can give you is to spend as much time as possible learning about keywords from tools like Traffic Travis and running through them in AdWords or competition searches. Know the phrases you should target well.

Internet Marketing Tips for Your Website

Once you’ve gotten a good idea of what you’re product, niche, and audience will be, it’s time to start generating websites to market those products. There are many different sites you can build – from blogs to forums to squeeze pages or full blown brochure sites.

* Learn the Basics of Sales Writing – Whether you’re writing 150 word squeeze page or a 10,000 word sales article, learn the basics of effective sales writing to influence and entice your readers to follow your calls to action. There are dozens of methods you can use to generate interest in your product – from powerful headlines to benefits laden product descriptions to carefully worded guarantees and pitches.

* Email Marketing – One of the most important Internet Marketing tips you’ll ever receive is to setup an account with an autoresponder service like AWeber or GetResponse and start gathering email addresses from within your niche. Do this by inserting a newsletter subscription form into your squeeze page or your website and offering something for free to entice readership. A 6 day free mini-course or a free report are both good ways to gather readers that you can contact later to make sales.

Getting Traffic

The most important part of any marketing campaign is to get traffic to your site. You do this with sound onsite optimization and back linking, i.e. SEO.

* Social Marketing – To generate interest, you must saturate the Internet with content that points back to you. Use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Digg, and YouTube to place interesting content that your readers will follow. You can also use a blog to create an authority destination and set yourself up as an expert.

* Back Link Generation – Most Internet marketing tips will tell you to submit articles to directories for back links and post on forums or blogs with comments. However, you should also use tools like SEO Quake to find high PR sites with “follow” links where you can post. Use a trusted site tool to find government sites or directories that you can get listed on as well.

Ultimately, your goal as a website owner and Internet marketer is to know your audience, reach your audience, and then funnel as much of that audience as possible back to your site where they can buy your products. Once you master those basics, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the next big Internet success.