SEO - Search Engine Optimization

By Gary Bolton

Without a doubt one of the biggest things to hit the Internet today is the amount of SEO "Search Engine Optimization" sites popping up all over the place. Even "Web Hosts" are now advertising to SEO your site for a fixed fee who you might be hosted with. It really does seem to be the hottest internet craze and many people cashing in on the rush to create new forms of SEO software to sell!!!

So why is SEO so important?

Let's say you running a site about CARS and your trying to get new members to come and join. Your faced with a big problem, there are also hundreds if not thousands of other CAR sites out as well - all fighting to get new members. So any tool you can use to point new users to your site first by ranking it high in search engines like Google etc is a big plus factor for your sites future growth (even more so if your selling a product).

So what does SEO do to help me?

What SEO does in a nutshell is convert all your web or forum pages into much more user friendly links, which in turn can then be indexed by search engines much easier and faster. Which means they will get ranked higher along with many more pages listed.

The benefits of this are quite obvious: The more pages you have indexed in search engines, along with a higher rank. Means your going to bring many more users to your site. Which in turn can be converted into more members joining your site faster than if you didn't use SEO. Simple case of mathermatics.

Will it cost me money to SEO my site?

Well the short answer to this is: Yes and No.

There are many guides out there on the internet which can be found quite easy using Google as a search tool to find them, that will explain how you can SEO your site yourself "DIY". There are also paid products out there that can make this easy for you (designed for certain forum boards like "vBSEO" is for use with vBulletin forum boards).

Which route you take depends on your knowledge of being able to understand how it all works and make the code changes yourself accordingly. If your a novice, off course you can always just buy a product and make things easy for yourself.

Are there any disadvantages of using SEO?

The only thing you need to remember is that nothing last forever - other sites are also choosing to SEO there sites also just like you. And over time this will effect your ranking as more and more sites go the same SEO way. So while in the short term you might be impressed with the results. Over time as more sites get SEO'd, this will have an adverse effect on your site in general as there sites begin to take advantage of a higher rank with more pages listed in search engines.

GB Chat

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Bolton

Some Very Easy To Follow SEO Tips

By Chris Taylor
Search engine optimization seems difficult to many but with a little patience and work it's really not that hard to pick up. In doing so you can save hundreds of dollars, and get the same results as the professionals do. You will probably get better results from highly qualified professionals, but you should definitely perform these do-it-yourself actions first. Once you've done some of this kind of work it will be easier to determine if a professional is worth his/her salt.

Basic SEO is very simple and easy - all it takes is the willingness to put in the work. Once you know the ropes, it's not that difficult though it can be time consuming. The content of your website the focus of what SEO is all about. Here are the top points to think about when you're doing it yourself.

1. You will start by registering a domain name, which should reflect what your site about. Keep it short, as long as it's somehow related to your site. Being more specific can help. You could choose to name the page after one of your products or services, for example. Another method is to get a sub domain of a popular domain. This will generally help you get indexed more quickly though it will not appear quite as professional to your visitors. There is a trade of here, sub domains are quicker (and generally cheaper), but domain names are more memorable, and, in the long run, better for your indexing.

2. The next thing you should look at is your page's title (i.e. the HTML title tag), which is critical in letting search engines see what the page is about, and is the first item looked at by search engines to determine your relevance. You should put your most important keywords in your title tags - you don't need to worry about singular or plural forms as search engines account for these changes in most cases. Whatever you do, don't call your home page "Home" - make the title a mini-description of the page.

3. The two primary meta tags aren't as important as they used to be, but the description tag is still used by some search engines to display information about your website to users and help them decide whether they've found what they are looking for. Not all search engines bother with this, though most will put some bearing on it (even if it is minuscule).

For very short descriptions the alt tag can be used. Alt tags let you describe an image or graphic file - they're the pop-up descriptions that appear when you hover your mouse over a graphic, or when the graphic can't be downloaded for whatever reason.

Text within comment tags is never displayed on the page - it is used by coders and designers to remind them of what that part of the page is for. Some coders used to put lots of keywords in the comment tags, so that they would be seen by search engines but not users, but search engines have now stopped paying attention to any text that isn't seen by the user. Keep this in mind when trying to post invisible text (i.e. white text on a white background). This kind of behavior can get you banned from a search engine.

4. Having keyword density in all of your content is good, but keep in mind that each search engine has its own requirements when it comes to how many times that a keyword or phrase should be in the content for the page to be relevant. Somewhere between 5 and 8 percent is a roughly optimal level - but this isn't always possible, and you shouldn't force it. Don't overdo it, or the search engines might mark you down.

5. Many search engines judge web page importance on the number and quality of incoming links from other sites. You should link to some related sites, but not too many. Don't overdo incoming links either, and keep them related your site's content. It's also good to get sites to use your keywords as the text of these links.

Using the above advice will see you gaining some very good first page rankings, it just takes a little effort and work!

Chris Taylor - CEO Catdynamics, author, marketing & SEO Specialist.

Search Engine Optimization Training - How To Sky Rocket Your Search Engine Rankings In Less Than 60 Days!

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SEO: Best Practices

By John Sylvester

A few nights ago I was asked by a regular in a bar I frequent: 'what is this pub doing with a website? Somewhat bemused, I replied that it receives substantial hits to its website and that it is listed on all the Bangkok portals. More importantly, they have consistently remained at #1 on Google, Yahoo!, MSN and the other major search engines for well over a year. Visitors the site, although not verifiable, must convert into a lot of money.' He looked slightly bemused, shrugged his shoulders and muttered something about not knowing much about search engines.

That is where we stand on building websites: our philosophy is based on making the web work for our clients; in providing them with a new revenue source. We don't just deliver tastefully designed websites, we also provide detailed research which we convert into accurately anticipated keywords likely to be used by potential visitors when searching for a source of information.

With this knowledge, we optimise our clients' web pages and register it with sites we know will boost its rankings. This strategy has been successfully employed on sites based in Thailand, the UK, Germany, Australia, France, Austria and France.

But there is another option to be seriously considered: commercial search. It is by far the most dynamic and fast-growing industry segment now, estimated to extend beyond $5billion by 2006. Pioneered by Overture (now Yahoo!), pay-per-click was created in response to three fundamental issues concerning internet search: poor quality results; random ordering of listings; and a weak advertising revenue model. It solved these problems by creating a real-time market for keyword bidding.

Recently, however, it has spawned a series of bidding wars among a growing number of marketers wanting their ads displayed alongside the top search results, and the demand for placement now seems to have reached an almost critical level. Highly popular search terms can easily get you involved in a cost escalation dynamic: extend your bid to the top spot and there's a good chance that, within hours, #2 will outbid you. This process can go on indefinitely until the actual 'market space' for these search terms is inflated beyond reach, which can take several weeks to stabilise and return to some kind of equilibrium.

Also, whilst pay-per-click can be the best marketing tool on the web if 'conversion rates' are high, there are four fundamental objectives to be recognised:

1. The content of your site must exactly match the keywords you intend to bid on;

2. All of your keywords stand no chance whatsoever of being listed in the top ten positions on the major search engines;

3. The cost of bidding will be more than recovered, as visits to your web pages will convert into quality leads or actual sales;

4. The more popular the search term, the more expensive.

If you think it's worth the investment, then take the plunge.

In the main, robots index websites, and few people look beyond the first 20 results. This has driven Google, Yahoo! and now MSN to devise a more specific search trend: e-marketing driven by localised search advertising, personalisation and increased specialisation. When fully operative, these initiatives will narrow the scope of the problems inherent in generic search results.

In the meantime, V9 will continue to provide our clients with optimum results: we have the expertise and proven credentials in providing Thai- and foreign-based businesses the opportunity of profitable expansion.

Media Director of V9 Design & Build, providing both local and outsourcing web and SEO services: we provide both brochureware and custom-designed websites, with tasteful design and branding, professional design and build, proven and successful SEO and e-marketing, e-commerce-driven database integration and content management systems.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Sylvester

The Advantages of SEO Training

By Jay Moncliff

It is estimated that at least 340 million people use search engines to find products and services every day. That's a lot of people. The top search engines use link popularity to decide which sights come up first when you do a search. Wouldn't it be nice if your website came up at the top of the list? It is a possibility with search engine optimization, or SEO. With the right SEO training, you can be on your way to a more successful business and much higher web traffic.

Before you start SEO training, you should first understand what SEO is. SEO basically means optimizing the results of a persons search on the web to lead to your website. When someone does a search, say on google.com, they type in a keyword and start the search. The search results then list several websites that fit the category of the search. The top websites are always listed first. Hence, the person doing the search is more likely to use the websites listed first. With the proper SEO training, you can learn how to make your website be listed at the top of the search engine lists.

SEO training can be provided through many different means. A great deal of people receive their SEO training at special seminars. These seminars can last several days and vary in price. Some are as low as $300 and some are as high as $1500. These seminars usually have limited seating available so sign up as soon as you can. There is also SEO training courses offered online with downloadable SEO training material. Most online SEO Training courses are self paced, so you can learn it at your own pace for a set price. There are even some free courses offered online as well.

Most of these courses teach the basics of SEO. This includes: learning how to use link popularity, keyword usage, and marketing techniques that can work best with SEO. Some courses even teach you how to start your very own SEO business, which has become quite popular in the recent years. Many of these SEO training courses offer certification in SEO so that you may officially start an SEO business.

All SEO training courses guarantee that with completion of the course, you will have a dramatic increase in your website traffic. Some say as much as a 500% increase. For business owners, this means a lot more money. If you are interested in SEO training, get on a search engine and see what results you get. The top websites listed are sure to be the ones that used search engine optimization. If it works for them, maybe you should give it a try.

Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.altaenbuscadoresonline.com a website specialized on Alta En Buscadores, resources and articles. This site provides updated information on Alta En Buscadores. For more info visit his site: Alta En Buscadores

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