How to Maximize Search Engine Traffic

May, 2004

How to Maximize Search Engine Traffic

Of all the traffic websites could generate ONE traffic
source stands head and shoulders above the rest

Search Engine Traffic.

Specifically, traffic from google.com and yahoo.com - the
leaders in finding things on the web.

Considering the highly targeted nature of this traffic and
the fact that it flows virtually without cost, search
Engine traffic simply cannot be beat.

How can you maximize traffic from search engines? There is
no trick or overnight solution. If you are looking for that,
you can stop reading now. But what you read here today WILL
increase your search engine traffic. It will take some time
but it is well worth it.

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So let's go... The first thing to consider is how the best
Search sites determine where to send their clients -- the
searchers. It does not happen by accident. In fact all
Search engines have complex algorithms that determine how
they rank sites.

But after all the smoke clears, I can point directly to ONE
essential component that leads to ever-growing traffic from
the major search engines...

QUALITY.

Or more precisely, this equation is my formula for success
with search engines...

Quality Content + Quality Links = SE Rank, Traffic and
Sales.

Quality is what matters most to top search sites like Google
and Yahoo. They want quality results for their searchers.
And this ultimately translates into YOU providing quality to
them.

Read that again. It is important to understand. As a
webmaster, quality is something you need to be very
concerned with.

There are two specific areas where quality really counts...

a) Quality of Content AT your Website
b) Quality of Links TO Your Website.

Let's talk about this in a bit of detail.

Quality Content AT Your Site

A quality website with solid, reliable and substantial
content will always do better than sites trying to "trick"
their way to good ranking. That's why the major search sites
have such a huge market share -- they provide quality search
results. Websites that qualify as such are usually the first
sites presented in their search results.

There is no secret to this. And providing quality content
takes work. It can be done by writing articles like this.
And you can do it by writing articles for your niche market.
If your site focuses on collectibles, then write an article
about a specific collectible every week. In a year you will
have 52 keyword-rich web pages (or more) that will help grow
traffic to your website. In two years you'll have 100+. And
this content is the cornerstone of your website.

Let's face it, nearly ALL people online are here to get
information. Not many people want to pay for it either.
After all, you can find in-depth information on any subject
imaginable. Sure, you sometimes have to pay for the best
quality information, but if you surf long enough you can get
to the truth of any subject using the World Wide Web.

If you are a website owner, the paragraphs above translate
into a simple strategy. Feed the search engines that provide
this valuable content. Create content for your niche market.
Grow a website that is information rich and the visitors
will come. It may take time but they will come.

Of course, there are ways that you can move the process
along a bit. The best way is to show search engines what
your content is about and how important it is. This is done
by building...

Quality Links TO Your Site

You may have heard of the importance of getting other sites
to link to yours. So let's cover this a bit. Yes, getting
lots of links coming to your site is important. But the
QUALITY of those links is even more important.

When it comes to the actual links, quality is measured
primarily by these two factor...

a. What sites link to your site
b. Exactly how they link to you

The first one is the toughest nut to crack. Getting quality
sites to link to yours is not easy. Naturally, the first
step is to have a quality site yourself. More proof of my
advice above. And once you have a quality site in place, you
can start building links to it. First let’s discuss exactly
how sites link to you.

For sure, text links seem to be better than banner links.
And text links filled with your best keywords are better
than any old text link.

For instance...

If you were trying to build links to your, let's say...
fishing related site, how other sites display links to yours
is extremely important. To decide what you want those links
to say, you need to research keywords a bit. The word
"fishing", would seem obvious but it undoubtedly has a ton
of competition. So a better idea is to find more specific
words. You can do that by entering your main keyword into
the tool at www.WordTracker.com or at Overture's keyword
suggestion tool. And you'll get a list of related keywords.
This particular test showed me that the keywords "fishing
tackle" or "fishing lure" get quite a bit of searching as
well. So those would be a better choice of keywords to use
in your incoming links.

(If your site does not offer such equipment, you can still
offer "information" on these topics.)

But how do you decide what those other webmasters will write
when they link to your site? That's easy. You do it by
giving other webmasters the exact code they can paste into
their sites.

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Now back to actually getting those links to your site...

Getting Links

Earlier we talked about the importance of having quality
sites link to your website. And that's not an easy task. In
fact, getting quality sites to link to your site takes a bit
of originality. You can't just slap up a "link to us" page
and hope the job gets done.

Many webmasters simply search the web and then email related
sites asking for a link swap. In my opinion that is too
time-consuming and tedious.

There are lots of other ways to grow the number of links
into your site. There are many automated solutions available
such as link farms and the like, but be careful with those.
Many such networks are not search engine friendly and using
them can actually hurt your site. You have to be careful
when selecting a link strategy.

Your link strategy should include a way for people to get a
link from your site to theirs, as well as create a link from
their site to your site. And if you can automate the entire
process you'll save lots of time.

Building a link strategy at your website is an important
step that will help you more than you realize, especially as
time goes on. So make it one of the first of your Internet
marketing steps.

Once your link building infrastructure (something like the
above example) is in place, you need a few ways to get
webmasters linking. Below are a few strategies you can use.

1.Pre-license all your best stuff.

As you create your own tips, articles or content for your
website or email newsletters, consider pre-licensing it to
others. Pre-licensing it for others is as simple as
including a short footer after your work. It looks something
like this:

"You have permission to reprint what you just read. Use it
in your ezine, at your website or in your newsletter. The
only requirement is including the following footer..."

*Article by YOUR NAME, visit www.YourWebsiteUrl.com for more
original content like this.

Getting the idea? This takes no extra work on your part
since you already write the article. A simple footer like
that lets you pre-licensed it to the entire web. Your links
will be growing continually with no extra effort. There are
lots of websites in need of decent content. Supply it and
you can benefit greatly - if you do it right!

2. Bribe webmasters into linking up.

The next strategy that can work very well is the "bribe". In
a nutshell, you simply give something of value away to
anyone who links to your site.

When done correctly, this strategy can be extremely
powerful. All you need to get started is a few text links
that people can use to link to your site, and a way to
automate all aspects of the "bribe".

Note: The tool that automates your link building strategy is
called Links Manager. It allowed you to create a directory
in a few hours and it automates the entire "get links"
strategy for you. It sends automated emails to all new
submissions, checks their site for reciprocal links, and
sends email reminders if they don't reciprocate. When
visitors link to your site their links are set up directly
and not through the system. So it is search engine friendly

In Closing...

OK, so is everything you have read all today should help you
to move your site up the ranks of the major search engines
like Google? Well, not really. There are lots of other
consideration such as the Title of your site. Your title
needs to include your best keywords as well. And so does the
text of your pages. For now, get busy building quality
content and quality links. They are two keys to the success
of your website.

That wraps up today's tip! If you take one lesson from it
remember, QUALITY CONTENT AND QUALITY LINKS will bring you
lots of targeted website traffic.

Sincerely,

Matt Byron

Directmarketing4u.com

P.S. If you wish to have any a specific area of concern
regarding advertising and online strategies, please send an
email to:

mailto:client_services@directmarketing4u.com

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