As a savvy and experienced online marketer, you know that the big goal is to get your website’s traffic to become life-long and devoted clients, which is why you put your all into your products and website. From flashy graphics to a website layout that would make even the most celebrated copywriter envious, you know that appearance is everything – especially when it comes to finicky online traffic!
Yet every marketer – even the great ones – have struggled with how to get the pre-qualified traffic to their websites. You know what I’m talking about: potential clients who are in need of your exact product and are more inclined to purchase from you than just a regular online surfer. It’s every marketer’s dream to get a stampeding horde of pre-qualified traffic with stuffed wallets.
But how to you get these hungry crowds to find you, especially when there’s junk that’s preventing your website from standing out?
The answer is simpler than you think: search engine optimization!
If you've been around the internet marketing block for a few months- or even years! – then you’ve probably heard of search engine optimization, or SEO, before. Here’s the secret: if you’re not using SEO tactics on your website’s content right now, then you might as well get comfortable with being on the last page of every search engine, because that’s exactly where you are now!
In layman’s terms, search engine optimization involves writing website content following a keyword-density formula. Search engines like Google and Yahoo have devices known as search engine spiders, which crawl around the internet looking for content that’s original, fresh and above all, keyword-optimized. These search engine spiders know junk when they see it: if your website is lacking in its keyword-density or has too many keywords altogether, those spiders will waste no time in chucking your site to the very end of the search engine line.
You know those words that you type into search engines when you're looking for something? Those are known as keywords, and if you use them correctly, they can work wonders for your marketing empire. You see, when potential clients are looking for specific information on any topic, they’ll type in these keywords and see what pops up. Say that a potential client is looking for natural remedies for dry skin; wouldn’t it stand to reason that your potential client typed in “natural remedies for dry skin”? Those, my friend, are the moneymaking keywords.
The first page is where you want your website to be, since many online surfers only stick to the results that they find on Page One. Why is that? Simple: the average surfer is so inundated with information that he or she usually sticks to the first couple of websites that pop up in the natural results!
Search engine optimization is a bit like playing a psychic. In order to get your website to rank on that coveted first page, you need to get into the minds of your potential clients and predict what keywords they'll be using to find your product. If you want to skip the psychic activity altogether and get the lowdown on what your potential clients are typing in when searching for your website, try Google Adwords, which is a free tool that you can use to see popular keywords for various marketing niches.
However, the important thing about SEO is that you cannot fill your website content with too many keywords, or else you'll risk having your website chewed up by the search engine spiders! Instead, you are better off keeping your keyword density at a healthy level - many SEO experts suggest less than five percent, with some even going as low as 2-3%. That means that if you have a 500-word article on your web page, then you want to make sure that your keyword appears between five to seven times. Stick to this formula, and you officially have optimized content. See how easy search engine optimization can be!
When using search engine optimization, just make sure that your content is fresh and original, since search engine spiders don’t take kindly to duplicate content. Additionally, keep updating your website to rank higher and higher on the natural results page. Pretty soon, you’ll see your website shoot to the number one spot – and you’ll get those stampeding hordes of customers that you’ve always dreamed about!
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Posted under Site building.
This post was written by Robjohn on May 30, 2009
