If you are using a keyword term and it isn’t bringing traffic to your website, visit Wordtracker and take avantage of their free trial software for finding the best keywords. Wordtracker is keeping track of the most popular keywords that people are using to find information on the Web. On their website, they state:

Wordtracker… compiles a database of over 330 million search terms which is updated on a weekly basis. All search terms are collected from the major metacrawlers - Dogpile and Metacrawler.

When you enter your keyword into the trial software, Wordtracker will return the information it has regarding that term - as well as - related keyword searches that have recently been completed. Review the list of related terms. Look at the popularity of each and use the information to refine your desired keyword term.

What is search engine optimization?
It is the manipulation of a website in order to gain top rankings on the three most popular search engines - Google, Yahoo and MSN. Manipulation can include editing the content, renaming the individual Web pages, renaming the graphics, creating and/or renaming the folders, updating the meta data that is behind-the-scenes on each Web page, and more…

The basis of all the editing, updating and creating are the keyword terms that you choose for your Web site. To learn whether the keywords you chose are being effective for you, look at your website statistics. (The company that is hosting your website will tell you where to find the statistics.)

Where does organic come in?
Organic refers to getting a high listing in the search engine results pages “naturally” as opposed to buying a high listing on the search engine results pages with a pay-per-click ad campaign.

Generally, the organic listings appear in the middle (or main section) of the screen. They earned their placement by optimizing their websites, and not via a pay-per-click ad campaign.

The websites that employ pay-per-click ad campaigns display on the right-hand side of the results pages, and sometimes across the top and bottom. Sometimes, they are designated as “Site Sponsors”, and sometimes that designation is indicated with a colored background with the ads.

How can Adventures Online help you?
Adventures Online offers two organic search engine optimization programs. Call 508-480-8833 to learn which program is best for your situation.

Adventures Online offers consulting services to businesses desiring help with calculating the ROI and overall effectiveness of their pay-per-click ad campaigns. Adventures Online does not set up nor manage pay-per-click ad campaigns.

In December, I wrote about two techniques that you can use to increase your rankings in the search engines. They are non-technical techniques - meaning that you do not have to know the inner workings of website development to practice them. I hope that you have incorporated these suggestions into your website marketing plan.

Speaking about search engine rankings, search engines give preferential treatment to sites that are visited often. Today I present you with an idea for increasing traffic to your website. Incorprating this idea will help increase the traffic to your website and has the added benefit of increasing your rankings in the search engines.

Today’s Tip:
Join an online forum whose topic is related to your industry. First, build your visibility by becoming a frequent contributor. Always sign your posts with your name, business name, and website address.

Establish yourself as an expert by responding to posts requesting assistance. When appropriate, refer the forum member to specific pages at your website or specific posts on your blog. Do not suggest that they visit your website and give the top level address (www.youcompany.com). Link them to the specific Web page or the specific blog post where they will find the information that will help them.

When linking, avoid linking using “click here” or general terms like “this article”. Instead use a keyword phrase that is content-related and important to your Web site. For example, I could use:

See my blog post entitled Getting Found in the Search Engines to learn more about…

When writing your response, start the response by using a keyword phrase that is related to the specific Web page or blog post to which you are referring the inquirer. For example, I could start with:

Re: your question about getting found on the Internet, I recommend…

Joining an online forum gives you visibility, helps establish you as an expert, and can drive traffic to your Web site.

How do you find a forum?
In November 2005 I posted an entry entitled Ego Searches Provide Free Marketing Research. If you followed up on that and requested information about your competition, you already know in which forums they participate. Make sure you join those and start bringing visibility to you and your website today.

A few other suggestions:

• Contact the industry organizations to which you belong. Ask them which forums they keep an eye on.
• Visit the Web sites of complementary businesses.
• Do a straight out Google search. I seached on “web developers forum” and the top listings on the search engine results pages were in fact forums. If you are a business consultant or coach, you might search on “business development forum”. I did, and over 22,000 listings were available.
• Visit the Web sites of your competition.
• Ask your business colleagues.

You know from previous posts that search engines love text. So, you need to feed them text over and over again. But - not just any text…

Inbound Links: Ask those who link TO your Web site to replace the linked words with words that your target audience will use to search for you. Instead of “visit their website” or “see the xyzcompany.com”, use keyword terms appropriate for your business. For Adventures Online, I would ask that “www.adventuresonline.com” (as the text) be replaced with some lead in phrase to “experienced Web developer” or “Web site design and development”.

Testimonials: When you receive a testimonial, review it for its search-engine friendliness. We already know that the person will say that you are the “best, gosh darn expert in your field” and that they would “choose you all over again.” These accolades, while flattering and true, do not help improve your rank with the search engines. So, when you receive one of these, gently ask if you can re-phrase the “best, gosh darn expert in your field” statement to (example for Adventures Online) “best, gosh darn Web developers in Massachusetts” and replace “choose you all over again.” with “choose Adventures Online to do my Web site development all over again.”

These simple changes will help improve your Web site’s ranking with the search engines. Add them to your list of To Do’s on your 2006 Marketing Plan.

How do you get traffic to your Web site? You need very good to excellent rankings in the search engines.

And how do you get those?
You include search-engine friendly components that make the search engines want to frequently revisit your Web site. According to a recent article by SiteProNews one of the best ways to do this is to include dynamic content at your Web site.

“Dynamic content is necessary for search engine recognition, and by updating the website frequently, the search engines see your website as an active, not stagnant, website. How often should changes be made? At the very least, monthly. But the more frequent the changes, the better…”

Dynamic content is a search-engine friendly component that will help you improve your “natural” search engine rankings (techno-speak for “for free rankings”). Some implementations of dynamic content are:

• Blogs
• Weekly or monthly newsletters
• Tips of the day
• RSS feeds to public news feeds that update hourly or daily.

Please note that these are all text-based. For example, having a Web page with your monthly newsletter information on it will get you higher rankings than updating a Web page that has a link to a PDF version of the newsletter.

SiteProNews also cautions Web site owners to check links frequently to ensure that they are active and valid.

The full SiteProNews article.