30
Free search engine optimization and Internet marketing Tips
By John Alexander
30 more Free SEO Tips:
1. Are you aware of your customer's "high interest" tools?
That's right, there are a huge number of useful Web based tools that
your customer may find helpful. Have you ever considered optimizing
a page for a highly useful tool? I'm not just talking about "mortgage calculators." I want you to think about YOUR ideal buying
audience's needs.
Is there a way you can explore the hottest demand for tools?
You bet there is.
Okay, what are the two most powerful letters that can be added to
a behaviorally related "root word" that will convert a "behavior"
into a "tool?"
The Answer: E R ( or sometimes or)
Example:
ACTION WORDS TOOLS
Hold + add E R = Holder
(what kind of "holder?" - That's for you to research!)
Stamp + add E R = Stamper
Watch
= Watcher
Clean
= Cleaner
Wash
= Washer
Build
= Builder
Fix
= Fixer
Warm
= Warmer
Charge
= Charger
Find
= finder
There are hundreds of examples, but I hope this makes sense. If this sounds all too complicated. It's not!
I am suggesting that you can use your keyword research tool to research powerful "action words" to
discover what tools are hottest in the search marketplace.
This is just one of of many techniques that we demonstrate to
students.
3. Did you know that you can use Google's keyword research tool which
suggests keywords "related" to the term/phrase you enter. Also it
shows you relative search volume by month and comparatively.
Give it a try here. It's free and no account is required to use it:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
4. Did you know that it is possible to effectively optimize multiple pages for a
variety of different "themes" within same Website and gain top rankings for all
of your highly competitive keyword phrases?
What is the secret?
The power of "themes" are "page specific" not
"site specific." Themes are not about "human intelligence" but are about the power of "artificial intelligence."
5. Don't over use your keywords phrase in ALT text.
Use every tag for the purpose in which is was specifically designed to be used by the W3C.
ALT text should be used to describe images.
Alt text was created to help describe an image to those who may need to use a reader. They were not designed as a place
to stack a bunch of keywords for SEO purposes.
6. Look through your Web site to see where you've used words that
contribute no real link reputation power, such as "home." Replace those words with "keyword phrase
home," if appropriate. In this manner, you're using link text (link
reputation) in internal linking on your Web site, which is extremely
powerful. Make sure the links are straight text links. If it doesn't
work for you or if it doesn't sound correct, don't do it.
Remember that your Web site should be written for your target audience. Links
need to read well and make sense.
7. One way to build content freshness is to add a blog to your site.
Post to it regularly with valuable content and links.
Read this article to learn more about blogs:
Blogs
with a purpose
By Robin Nobles
8. Create content that will meet your visitor's exact search query and
satisfy it.
When optimizing a page for a specific phrase, think about why an
searcher might be using that specific phrase. If you are optimizing
an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, are you truly delivering
your MOST frequently asked questions? What do you think the background
circumstances might be in that individual's life when they search
using very specific phrase clusters such as:
"infant pillow support"
(Would this attract parents of newborn babies?)
"Meaning of babies names"
(Would this attract "soon to be" parents?)
"expandable rv shower curtain"
(Perhaps attract an audience of seniors who travel?)
"garfield shower curtains"
(Someone looking for brand specific product?)
"COST OF LIVING canada to usa"
(Is this someone thinking about moving?)
"How to Connect Headphones to TV" (Lot's of folks looking for helpful tutorials.)
"wheres our economy heading"
(Why are individuals asking a search engine this?)
"Reasons against Capital Punishment" (People use the Internet to research hot topics)
I could give you hundreds of examples, but the point of this tip is
quite simple.
Do your best, to understand WHY someone is using the phrase and create your content to satisfy that reason.
9. Create content that has a solid, well written "call to action."
Clearly describe what you want your visitor to do next. Do not assume that anyone will "know" what to do. You must tell them
"exactly" what you want them to do in clear, concise, descriptive
dialog. Tell them, tell them again and make it flow like
natural dialog.
10. Are you continually looking for new types of content to add to your
Web site?
One type of content to consider adding is "statistical data." What is useful or of high interest to your target audience?
If the stats aren't your own, always indicate where you're getting them.
There are many more types of useful information that you can
consider as well. Press releases, news, articles, historical
interests, interviews, plus many others. The idea is to
continually look for new topics of interest to your readers.
11. Have you thought about optimizing some news about your business this
week?
You can put your news story out in front of thousands of publishers and editors through the
PRweb service.
But the question is - what will your unique story angle be?
There are so many times we get so wrapped up in what our competitor
is doing, we seem to forget the power and impact of taking a reverse
or opposite approach.
Learn how to tell your story from a different and more interesting
perspective than everyone else and your stories. Catch your audience
by surprise with some genuine news and make your news story stand
out in the eyes of publishers.
Surprise your audience with a different approach and watch the
impact it can have on your Web site. Its only news, but people love
fresh ideas or a story told from an alternate approach.
12. How many links should you have on a links page or other page of your Web site?
Is there any limit or maximum number?
Here is what Google advises:
"Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).
When was the last time you reviewed Google's Webmaster Guidelines?
You should re-read it from time to time. It is an excellent resource
and it can and does get updated from time to time.
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769
13. Did you know that the right kind of graphic on your page can help you fulfill your
page's objective?
If using an image of a person's face, try to find one that is looking into the eyes of your visitor with a happy expression. People relate to
the human face (particularly around the eyes.)
Try not to have your image glancing downward (which can signify someone feeling depressed.) Smiling happy people are
who your audience will relate too and you might be surprised how effective the
right image can contribute to your sales, if you put it on a page that has the
traffic already coming in to it.
14. Are you using the little credit card logos on your page above the fold where the
visitors can see them easily without scrolling? These logos as well as the verisign
logo or security logos all instill a sense of trust in your visitor.
Do everything you can to make your page "feel safe" and friendly to your visitors.
15. The use of humor at times is very powerful.
It can be in the form of text, graphics, audio, or video, but just make sure it is good
humor, tastefully done. People want to feel good on your Web page.
Good humor will influence emotion and "great humor" can funnel
volumes of traffic into your site just by word of mouth. Can you recall seeing humor used on a Web page that made you laugh
out loud?
If so, just think back and see if you don't recall telling a friend
to check it out! There may be sites where it might be hard to use
humor (A funeral parlor or perhaps a divorce lawyer). On the other
hand, with a little creativity, who is to say it could not be done....with greatest of tact and care, of course.
16. For sites that have
technical or extremely niche language used, here is another
tip to consider.
Would it be appropriate for you to set up a page on your site
listing a glossary of terms for your industry?
Think about it. It might be something you want to consider
both from having a useful purpose as well as some extra
supporting key terms.
17. Don't ever forget
about the value of directories.
Also don't forget about vertical engines and directories when considering
places to submit your site to increase your site's visibility and
possibly link popularity.
Visit these URLs for impressive lists of verticals.
http://www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html
http://www.beaucoup.com
18. Make a practice of quickly exploring all types of supporting data
besides regular keywords
such as:
specific colors, online calculators, tools, applications, topics relating seasons, topics relating to news, different types
of tests, etc. People love taking all types of personality or career tests.
There are so many more things to research than most people are aware
of.
19. Tip on the use of image
influence
Your visitors look at images, so consider putting a thought-provoking
caption under your images.
Makes it sales worthy and clickable, whenever possible.
20. How big is your site getting to be?
If you have more than 200 pages on your site, consider getting an
onsite search engine. Not only will you be making it easy for your
visitors to find what they're looking for, but the stats you'll get
with the onsite search engine will be extremely beneficial to you.
21. Don't become overly obsessed with linking that you build your entire
strategy ONLY around link building.
Use all of the basic principles to carry your Web site and you may
want to do some linking based on what will make sense to your visitors.
You are not only just trying to please the search engines.
What secondary and third supporting phrases would you like to be
easily found for. Remember to allow for about 20% topic drift in
your inbound links. That means keep your focus on your primary
keyword phrase in link text (about 80% of the time.) About 20% of
the time use your synonyms and secondary supporting terms.
22. Tips on working with
the power of news
Make sure and use your important keywords in your link text because
when a press release is picked up by multiple publishers or media
outlets, remember that it is news.
Many people forget that news is 100% legitimate white hat, because
the search engines understand "news" is meant to be syndicated. The
additional link reputation can be beneficial if your press release
is carried in huge publications like Forbes or perhaps AOL Money &
Finance.
Your goal with media releases is not JUST link reputation though.
You also need to write a newsworthy story that will be picked up
by major publications. If you don't get your story picked up, you
will missing on some huge natural traffic spikes.
23. Learning to shift your focus from the natural approach to provide
content with a slightly different focus will also attract a slightly
different audience.
Maybe an entirely new audience or several new audiences that will
ultimately translate into new business for you. Here are 5 easy
ways to get out of the rut to Attract New Visitors By Shifting Your
Web Topic Focus.
5 Ways to attract new visitors simply by shifting your focus
24. Did you know that many of the things we have all taken for granted
in SEO are not always
really quite true?
What do you think the correct keyword density to aim for in Google right now?
Do you know?
A. 1.0%
B. 1.5%
C. 2.0%
D. 2.5%
E. 3.0%
Make your choice and see the correct response at the bottom of
this page.
25. Do you know the correct answer?
A. Keyword Meta Tag
B. Keyword proximity
C. Keyword density
D. Keyword rich Domain name
The correct answer is in general is B. Keyword proximity
Major search engine are not concerned with A.
Keyword density is a factor but not as important as keyword proximity
A Keyword rich domain name can be helpful, but is just one of over
200 different ranking signals.
How your words are placed on a page in proximity to each other is
more important than most people understand.
26. There is a good
reason why you cannot reverse engineer an algorithm.
The simplest way of explaining this (regardless of how good the
pitch sounds) is that it simply cannot be done, it has never been
done and it never will be done.
Most importantly, it don't need to be done, because you are not
required to understand the algorithm in order to gain top visibility
in your market.
You do require "understanding" of the processes if you want to be
accurate and optimize your pages with perfect exactness. You don't
need to worry about how the algorithm works though. Remember, the
goal of your training is to eliminate the act of mimicry.
Instead of doing a procedure based on what someone told you to do, you need to be able to understand and measure the true influences yourself.
Back in 2008, this is one thing we realized the student needed over
all. They needed to move towards gaining an true understanding of
exactly how search engines work today. Your ability to get a page optimized correctly based on knowing
exactly what you are doing to:
--Optimize a page faster
--Getting it correct the very first time
--save you hour of time
--saving time also saves you money
--building your businesses profitability in as short of a time as possible.
Many so called SEO researchers give you statistical data sets based
on what they feel they are finding in their own research. This type
of data often is based on things such as algorithm details with
breakdowns of technical aspects including things like keyword
density, character counts, and hordes of information - all of which
changes from month to month.
Many typical optimizers pay monthly fees and sign up for access to
read all of these things thinking they can actually reverse engineer
an algorithm. So many times, these "researchers" will load you up
with details and then tell you to come back next month to see the
latest findings.
What makes these notions false and unreliable?
Only just simple truths, but once you have them you will never be
caught again.
How many times are these algorithm details breakdowns of technical
aspects including things like keyword density, character counts,
keyword prominence, all provided to you, but you never even are told
what the keyword phrases were that were being researched?
Why should it matter?
It's because of the fact that every keyword phrase is graded on a
curve which changes (even for the same identical phrase) but it
differs from industry to another and it certainly differs by phrase.
Therefore the statistical data sets are completely useless unless
you know exactly what keyword phrase is being tested and for what
exact competitive landscape. Pick any data set at all, let's say the Keyword Density. This refers
to how many times your phrase must be used on a page. If someone is
speaking in general best practices, they may ask "how many times that
a keyword phrase should properly be used?"
Why this impossible to answer accurately is because you must research that exact keyword phrase and know the industry. You cannot
for instance say that your keyword phrase should have a keyword
density of only 2% because each keyword phrase is graded on a curve.
Another thing to remember is that you can not measure one SEO element independently of all of the others. If you try, it will
result in inaccuracies because each and every influence must be
measured all together in a very specific fashion because one influence affects all the
others influences.
These are simple facts that many students of SEO have never before
considered. But they are truths that can be proven and there is a
way to measure all of the influences very accurately.
27. BASIC MILD OPTIMIZATION CHECKLIST
This week, we talk more about SEO ranking signals and the importance
of SEO accuracy and exactness.
Here is a brief partial checklist that you can print out and keep
with you when doing basic optimization:
- Title tag with KeyWord phrase toward the beginning of the tag
- Each Title tag should be kept absolutely unique
- Description META tag - remember a call to action.
- Header tags using the KW phrase -- possible two tags
Only use 1 X H1 on a page (or you can use multiple H2s as required)
- KW phrase used in Body text
- Internal Link
text
-- (using your researched KW phrase)
- Keyword prominence -- (using your keyword phrase more prominently)
- Keyword relevancy -- (using the right phrases relevant to your site)
- Keyword
proximity -- use your KW as a whole researched PHRASE
- Keyword weight** -- How many time your keyword phrase is used
These are just 10 out 200 active influences to search relevancy.
While these are very basic, on-page influences (I'm sure you are
familiar with) - they all contribute to a degree in your optimization stability.
28. Free SEO Tool:
This Web site has over 100 tools that you can use to dig for information
on a URL. There are more nooks and crannies to this site than you
can possibly imagine.
http://www.faganfinder.com/urlinfo/
29. Here is a resource that allows you to download free e-books
on SEO
(as well as many other topics) - 100% free!
Visit PDF
Genie
30. What are the differences between content pages and articles?
Content Pages:
These are pages within your Web site that you can optimize for
specific keyword phrases that will offer up a wide variety of strategies to fulfill a specific goal or objective.
For example you can have content pages optimized for nearly any type
of purpose
such as:
-Making sales
-Building your subscribers list of permission based readers
-Teaching people something useful such as a tutorial
-Answering Frequently Asked Questions
-Helping to dispel misinformation about a topic
-Offering useful statistics
-Offering up directions or maps
-An "About Us" page featuring your company or a persons experience
or profile
-Creating popular informational pages
-Pages supplying helpful Web type tools
-Offering up pages that have some interactive social media purpose
-Advice columns
-Pages with chat capabilities
and the list goes on and on.
How are articles different than regular content pages?
Strategies involving articles have a much tighter focus and usually
are not about trying to sell a product.
Articles, from the search engines point of view are 100% while hat,
meaning that they are syndicated and search engines understand that
good articles are meant to be published in more than one place at
at time, very similar to news.
Articles can be published to several places at once and even have
the search engines blessing so to speak, through places like Yahoo
or Googles Creative Commons. Articles do not need much work in the
way of optimization, since the article itself can gain massive
distribution through article directories. For example some publishers will have established subscribers numbering in the
hundreds of thousands. One article being published in just one major
publication could easy see 300,000 to 500,000 readers come to visit
(especially if the publisher sends their content out to a permission
based list of readers.)
Let's look at a few obvious differences between content pages and
articles:
Articles
Content Pages
Should range between
Should be at least
800 to 1200 words
400-600 words
Industry standard for articles
Content pages have no limits
is usually 65 characters per
although it's best to have some
line including spaces.
white space for ease of reading.
Don't require much optimization
Do require optimization for traffic
Offer expert advice or
Can offer sales, information or
helpful tips but should not be
a much wider variety of topical
just a sales pitch.
info, catalogs, video etc.
Well written articles have the
Content pages are limited to on
added value of links returning
page influences but will still
from the bio to the Web site.
need off page influences to help
compete.
Should never be self promotional
Content pages can be self-
but can offer useful, helpful
promotional such as a sales letter.
advice.
Fresh, original articles that
Content freshness also counts for
have not been published before
content pages. Search engine like
have more value than articles
to see a Web site kept up to date
that have been published every
with fresh information.
where.
Traffic generated from articles
Traffic to content pages, usually
generally comes from readers who
come from the search engine
click on the Bio of the author.
results pages initially.
Most article publishers offer
you their editor guidelines to
follow.
In Summary, is article marketing a good strategy to follow for
promoting your Web site?
Absolutely true. Article marketing allows you to reach enormous
groups of readers that you would normally gain exposure to, through
SEO only. Article marketing is just like free advertising, if you
do it correctly. It does not replace good SEO work, but is something
else you can perform in tandem, but won't require you to pay a dime
in ad space.
Robin Nobles
and I are very privileged that many of our original students
have also joined us as professional SEO associate educators
and are now opening localized Search
Engine Academy Workshops within local communities
across 4 different countries.
High performance SEO skills are now being taught on a steady
basis right from local communities so that students can
gain the freshest research, updates, re-certification of skills
without needing to travel or make any lengthy trip out of
town.
The
ultimate direction that the Web is taking us, is back to the
very roots of relationship building and communicating
effectively with individuals and communities around us. Every time
you establish a new relationship on the Web, you never know
where it will lead to or what new opportunities it will
position you for. Explore all the ways of making your Web
site or Blog more relationship effective and continually
strive to build better long term relationships with your
customers and you will take your business to new levels of
exposure in so doing.
Are you looking for hundreds more free
SEO tips like these? Grab them here.
Recommended Reading: Color Persuasion
|
•Do you know what color your product be?
• What color should your logo be?
• What color websites and blogs convert the
best?
And the most important question of all...How does
color affect emotion and influence the purchasing
decisions of my viewers? |
The
Science of Using Color to Persuade and influence
Purchasing Decisions (by Michael Campbell)
Research by leading consumer groups, show that 93%
of people put color and visual appearance above all
other factors while shopping. 85% of consumers say
color is a primary reason for buying a particular
product.
It’s strange because, color is one of the first
things we learn as a child. Right after one, two,
three, comes red, green, blue. We don’t think about
it consciously. We know what colors we like, but have
a hard time explaining why.
That’s where Michael Campbell's research becomes
fascinating.
It provides the definitive answers.
No, it's not just some art theory or personal
opinions. It is rooted in fact. It is based on
science, research, polls and tests. It’s my latest
research, a whitepaper on color called, “Color
Persuasion.”
Get full access to this 17 page insightful PDF
report among a treasure of other resources such as:
- The Most Powerful Motivator
that Will Drive You to Success
- Mastering Internet Marketing in 80 Minutes
- 15 Profitable Niches You’ve
Never Thought Of
- 10 Steps to Improving Your Conversion Ratios
- Anthony Robbins
Insight on Info Product Marketing
- Finding Hidden Revenue Streams
- PLUS
+ + + This
entire list of additional resources here.
|
Answer to Question
24:
What do you think the correct keyword density
to aim for in Google right now?
A. 1.0%
B. 1.5%
C. 2.0%
D. 2.5%
E. 3.0%
The correct answer if you want to be accurate is this. You do not
know the correct keyword density, because I have not given you the exact keyword phrase. All keyword phrases are graded on a curve.
They are each different and work differently based on the industry and the phrase itself. If you do not know the exact phrase, you
cannot accurately determine the exact keyword density.
These days, it is possible to be much more accurate about your SEO skills if you "get understanding" rather than just follow someone
else's best practice guidelines. Zero in on the truth and you'll save yourself hundreds of hours of frustration.
About John Alexander
John Alexander is Co-director of Training at Search
Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his
partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first
comprehensive online search engine marketing courses. John
has
taught SEO skills to people from 87 different countries world
wide. John is also Director of Search
Engine Academy with localized Search Engine Academy
training centers where the Complete SEO Mastery Workshop and 6
Month Mentoring program is taught locally to business
owners and individuals in
communities across North America and
Internationally in Asia.
