1. Keyword Research
It is essential when optimising your site, that the content is keyword rich. However, there is little point in writing keyword dense copy if the keywords are not commonly used in search terms.
It is advisable to keep keywords ambiguous when using any SEO tool, e.g. KeywordDiscovery or Google Adwords Keyword Tool. This will allow the SEO tool to return more suggestions, some of which may be surprising, and ones you had not thought of.
SEO tools will also allow you to see the levels of competition for the most popular keywords. This will allow you to optimise your campaign for the most effective keyword use.
2. Link Building
A high Google PageRank is something most sites aim for, and while the algorithm for determining page rank is constantly changing the number and quality of links into your site always features.
We suggest using reputable sites and niche directories to link back to your site. With genuine, relevant content, links back to your site can really boost your site’s PageRank.
Some SEO tools will also allow you to view the number of links your competitor sites contain, this will enable you to make sure you have more valid links therefore it is likely your page rank will increase.
3. Deep Linking
While it is important to have as many good quality relevant links as possible coming into your site, it is equality important that these go to different pages across your site. This will allow you to target more relevant links to each specific page. This will not only improve users experience more but will allow search engines to see that your site has lots of valid content, boosting PageRank. Sites that only have links going to the homepage are often viewed as shallow by search engines, or that the links are not genuine and generated by automation, reducing the sites value.
4. Sitemaps
The site map is an important tool for increasing the ease of navigation across your site. It allows web crawlers from search engines (and users) to quickly and efficiently search every page of your website. Every page of content is therefore easier to find, reducing the number of clicks, both web crawlers and users have to make before reaching the required content.
There is another version of the sitemap that is also used by search engines. XML sitemaps consist of a list of all pages and include the dates the pages were last modified. XML sitemaps are submitted to search engines to help them find and link to all of the content on your site.
5. Relevant Content
The most important part of SEO is perhaps having content relevant to your main page or site topic. The readable text on the page needs to be relevant to the targeted keywords and information in the meta tags and alt tags.
The content needs to read well, in addition to being keyword dense, in order to be useful to a reader. All information needs to be explained fully so it makes sense to the reader. The site content needs to be relevant in order for the search engine to link it to the search term. However some keyword stuffed copy can appear to be spam and put potential users off.
6. Optimise Meta Tags
The Meta tags are in the code of the site. The two most important meta tags are the description and keywords. Meta tags summarize what the site is about and are still have a role in the search rankings.
The description tag is what users will read when your page comes up in search listings and can make the difference between them clicking on your site or not. The recommended length for the description meta tag is 150 – 200 characters. The description tag should have a few keywords within it but should not be stuffed with keywords, this should read like a sentence, not a list.
Many search engines hold little importance to the keyword meta tags due to “keyword overstuffing”. However all search engines still recommend adding them. When putting your list together, you need to think of the terms people are likely to be searching for (see Keyword Research), so they are led to your site with relevant content. It is not useful to add too many duplicates to your site (e.g. SEO agency, SEO agencies, London SEO agency, etc) as these are essentially the same, it is better to pick one or two variations of each keyword.
7. Use Alt Tags for Images
The alt tags will help SEO as a brief, descriptive alt tag can add relevant text to your source code, which search engines can see when indexing your site. A higher search ranking can be obtained with more relevant content, making these tags valuable.
The use of alt tags also helps the visually impaired who asses the site using screen reader. Whilst they cannot see the image, the alt tag describes what the image was off, so they do not miss any content from the site.
8. Social media
Not technically SEO, Social Media is a fast growing factor in getting your website noticed, and is an important element to include in plans.
Social Media is a term used to describe a variety of Web-based platforms, applications and technologies that enable people to socially interact with one another online. Some examples of social media sites and applications include Facebook, YouTube, Del.icio.us, Twitter, Digg, blogs and other sites that have content based on user participation and user-generated content (UGC).
To achieve the most form social media it is important to have a give and take relationship. Helping members out with retreats, or digs or giving helpful advice will increase the effectiveness of this media.
9. Ensure Domain Name Contains keywords
You do not need to pack lots of keywords into your domain name, but a few carefully chosen keywords to highlight the topic of the website are useful. Too many keywords in the domain name can make a site look like it is spam based. Avoiding the overuse of hyphens is also a key element in getting the domain name right.
10. Use Headings
The page title will be the first thing a search engine will look at when determining what the page is about. It is also the first thing visitors to your site will see when they get to your page. Therefore it is important that heading contain one or two keywords, they are relevant to the content on the page and provide appropriate targeting.
Headings have an important role in the organisation of information on a website, they are also able to provide aesthetically pleasing aspects to a site. It is recommended to use the appropriate page heading tags through out the site as these enable webcrawlers to access the site easily.
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Monday, 23 July 2012
Top 10 SEO Strategy Tips
1. Site Review & Audit :
First, we start from checking the basic structure of the website, design, coding standard , basic meta data, page speed, etc. This way, we know what needs to be improved or worked on.
2. Keywords from the Client :
We make sure, we have handful of keywords from the client, before we start doing research on its competition.
3. Keyword Research :
After getting the keywords, we start our research and we use tools like Adwords Keyword Tool, SEO Quake Firefox Toolbar, and Semrush Keyword Manager. We mostly look for high search volume and low competition terms only.
4. Competition Analysis :
Everytime we get a SEO project, we look for our client’s competitors. We check their trends, like how they have optimized it, from where they have got the backlinks, how they are promoting, etc. This helps us in planning for our client’s website.
5. Link Structure : We check the current link structure of the website first and how far it can impact the search engines when with keywords.
6. Index Importance : The first campaign is always done for the homepage, so we make sure, we are doing it the right way, with the keyword rich h1 tag, proper meta tags and meta description.
7. Page Optimization :
Once we have finalized the keywords, we make individual pages for those keywords and do the campaign for it. A dedicated keyword page is must in the website, if you are targeting that way.
8. Initial Ranking Report :
Before, we start working on the campaigns, we prepare a initial ranking report for the customer. That way, the customer can track how much efforts we are putting in for his website and his ranking status.
9. Detailed Planning :
According to the budget, we prepare a onSite , onPage and offPage Optimization proposals for our customers. So, they know, what we are going to do with their website in the coming months.
10. Monthly Maintenance :
No website can rank #1 forever, until and unless, the online marketing campaigns are done in regular basis. So, you need a professional company doing your SEO over the time, without a stop, and make sure, you are never low in the ranking.
First, we start from checking the basic structure of the website, design, coding standard , basic meta data, page speed, etc. This way, we know what needs to be improved or worked on.
2. Keywords from the Client :
We make sure, we have handful of keywords from the client, before we start doing research on its competition.
3. Keyword Research :
After getting the keywords, we start our research and we use tools like Adwords Keyword Tool, SEO Quake Firefox Toolbar, and Semrush Keyword Manager. We mostly look for high search volume and low competition terms only.
4. Competition Analysis :
Everytime we get a SEO project, we look for our client’s competitors. We check their trends, like how they have optimized it, from where they have got the backlinks, how they are promoting, etc. This helps us in planning for our client’s website.
5. Link Structure : We check the current link structure of the website first and how far it can impact the search engines when with keywords.
6. Index Importance : The first campaign is always done for the homepage, so we make sure, we are doing it the right way, with the keyword rich h1 tag, proper meta tags and meta description.
7. Page Optimization :
Once we have finalized the keywords, we make individual pages for those keywords and do the campaign for it. A dedicated keyword page is must in the website, if you are targeting that way.
8. Initial Ranking Report :
Before, we start working on the campaigns, we prepare a initial ranking report for the customer. That way, the customer can track how much efforts we are putting in for his website and his ranking status.
9. Detailed Planning :
According to the budget, we prepare a onSite , onPage and offPage Optimization proposals for our customers. So, they know, what we are going to do with their website in the coming months.
10. Monthly Maintenance :
No website can rank #1 forever, until and unless, the online marketing campaigns are done in regular basis. So, you need a professional company doing your SEO over the time, without a stop, and make sure, you are never low in the ranking.
Sunday, 22 July 2012
5 Tips to Perfecting Your Internal Linking Structure
In SEO, when people talk about linking they almost always focus exclusively on external linking. They might talk about new link sources,what factors are making more of an impact and so on. Yet few people will talk about the other half of the linking formula – Your internal linking structure.
Your internal linking structure is crucial to your search engine success. Without it, it’s very difficult to get ranked. Internal linking alone won’t get you ranked, but if you don’t have strong internal linking, your chances of getting ranked are very slim.
The best thing about internal linking is that it’s relatively easy. Unlike external linking that needs tons and tons of effort, mastering internal linking really requires understanding just a few core principles. Here’s what you need to know.
Get Rid of Image, JavaScript or Flash Links
Start by getting rid of any links on your site that aren’t text. Try to use advanced CSS to create good looking buttons rather than images. Google has a very hard time reading JavaScript, Flash and Image links. Instead, you want text links that Google’s used to looking at.
Use Keyword Relevant Anchor Texts
When you link to other pieces of content on your website, make sure you use a keyword relevant anchor text. Google will use this anchor text to determine what the page being linked to is about.
If all the links on your site to a particular page contain the word “fish, “ chances are Google is going to think there’s something on that page about “fish.”
Link Consistently Throughout Your Site
You should have a navigation map throughout your site that makes sense for both users and search engines.
Have a navigation bar along the top of your site or on the side of your site (or both.) Make sure all the links in your navigation bar are in text. People should be able to easily find their way around your site, no matter where they are on your site.
Use a breadcrumb trail navigation to allow people to find their way back to higher level categories and to your home page. A breadcrumb trail looks like this:
Home > Category 1 > Subcategory 4 > Page
People can click on any of the previous categories or pages to be taken back to a higher level.
These kinds of breadcrumb trails make browsing your site easier. Google also loves them. They also help you naturally “silo” your site into different subtopics.
Give Google an XML Sitemap
If you want all the pages on your website to be indexed, then it’s a very good idea to take the time to create a sitemap. A sitemap is exactly what it sounds like it is: A map of your site, with all the different pages on your site listed in one easy place for a search engine to see. This sitemap will prevent Google from having to spend a lot of time crawling your site.
Generating a sitemap is easy. If you’re using a WordPress site, there are over a dozen different plugins you can choose from to generate a sitemap. If you’re not using WordPress, you can go online and find a number of different free tools that all help do the same thing.
In Content Linking
Link to other pages on your site from within your site’s content. Whenever you’re creating new text content, look for other pages on your site that you can link to.
For example, let’s say you’re writing an article about the mortgage crisis. As you’re writing, you talk about the causes of the crisis, the effect’s it’s having on homeowners, how it’s affecting the financial sector and how things look moving forward.
Instead of just touching upon each of these topics, make it a point to link to more in depth material on the rest of your site on each of these subtopics. Your readers will thank you for it and Google will love you for it.
Keep these tips in mind as you build your website and your internal linking. Your internal linking is an indispensible part of your overall SEO linking strategy.
Local SEO: Top 10 Tips for Ranking in Your Area
One of the best ways to bring in new business to an offline establishment is to use the internet. Just about everyone has internet access now. Often people have internet access through several devices, so they’re connected no matter where they are.
Getting ranked in your local area is more important today than ever. Here are the ten top tips to help you get ranked in your area.
Tip #1: Google Places
The first place you should look to get setup is Google Places. If you haven’t already “claimed” your business as yours, do so now.
Add your hours of operations, menu, pictures and any other information you can to your Google Places page.
Your Google Places page is what will actually rank in Google Local searches and on Google Maps searches on the iPhone.
Tip #2: Update Your Bing Page
A lot of people ignore Bing simply because it’s not Google. The reality is that since Bing merged with Yahoo, it now has nearly 30% of the search market share. That’s not a market you want to neglect.
Furthermore, Facebook’s mapping system uses Bing’s maps. So you definitely want your information up to date on Bing and you want to pay attention to getting ranked on Bing.
Tip #3: Be Active on Yelp
Do you have a Yelp page for your offline business? Of so, you should actively monitor and try to improve your Yelp rankings.
Add as much detail as you can to your Yelp page. If anyone ever posts something negative, respond to them right away. Answer any questions people ask.
Tip #4: Pay Attention to National Customers
Just because you have a local business doesn’t mean you should neglect national customers. In fact, if you land a national customer, that could be a fantastic chance to also land a high quality, high PageRank backlink to your site.
Tip #5: Check Your Citations
Google uses a system called “citations” to make sure your business really exists. Having good citations will also help you rank.
A citation is basically other websites that corroborate your address, phone number and business name. Look for other business listing sites in your industry and make sure all your information is up to date there.
Tip #6: Split Other Services into Different Domains
If you run a laundromat and a café, think about splitting the website into two different domains. If you run a boxing gym and a yoga studio, again think about splitting them into different domains.
This will allow you to optimize both sites for different keywords and achieve higher rankings in both, rather than mediocre rankings for a one-size-fits-all website.
Tip #7: Network Locally
Network with other people in your area. For example, go to your local Chamber of Commerce meetings, your Business Networking International meetings and your Toastmasters meetings.
These are fantastic sources of business deals and backlinks.
Tip #8: Keep Your WHOIS Up to Date
Make sure your WHOIS information is up to date. Your phone number, address and name should all match. Don’t use WHOISguard if you can help it. Google wants to know you are who you say you are.
Tip #9: Participate in Online Communities
Online communities are a fantastic way to generate more backlinks.
Try to get involved in online local communities. For example, mailing lists that have to do with your area, blogging circles around your city and so on. These can be a fantastic source of customers as well as backlinks.
Don’t just use these communities as advertising opportunities. Try to actually join these communities and become a valuable contributor.
Tip #10: Master the Art of Asking for Reviews
Sites like Yelp and Google Places are driven by consumer reviews. If you want to rank highly on these sites and bring in droves of customers, you need to get dozens of reviews.
The best way to do that? Ask. Master the art of developing rapport with people and letting them know how big a difference a review would make for you. Try to ask 5 people a day to leave you a review. Do this and you’ll quickly outrank the majority of your competition.
These ten tips are all you need to vastly improve your local search rankings. Do these ten things and you’ll quickly dominate your competition – Especially if they’re not on the same digital wavelength.
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
How To Make A Search Engine Friendly Website
Your website is your key medium to reach your potential customers. Your website is your medium to reach your potential customers. But, search engines work for your website, to make you visible and to give you a global presence. Hence try to be a search engine friendly websites. Following are few key factors which, if well prepared, can make your website listed in most search engines.
Web Graphics
Search engines do not recognize images and other graphics. If you have some good texts in your content then don't cover it with any graphics. Graphics should be used to make your site look more vibrant and attractive. Graphics should be the garnishing to your website. If you will use it in text then it might decrease your chances for a good ranking in search pages. These graphics include Flash also. When you design a well written text in Flash then it is similar to not having text all. The text which is visible to you isn't visible to the search engines, if it's in flash. Search engines need to have content to list your website. And remember, all graphics no content can make your website dull and invisible to the users. Make sure that all your images carry descriptive alt tags.
At the same time there are quite simple rules that you may follow to even optimize a flash-based website.
Search engines read accessibility contents, texts, hyperlinks as well as dynamic contents from flash files; hence, it is necessary that you optimize flash contents.
As search engines follow hyperlinks for finding the new content, it is advisable to give preference to HTML text links or JavaScript.
You can implement deep linking as search engines index the address of your current website; even though flash website/application is added to it.
Content & Good Quality Fresh Content
Content plays a vital role in optimizing a website. Visitors judge you through the glasses of content and technology used. A well written content represents the authenticity of the website. Content evaluation and organization should be well defined while plotting a website. Building necessary content then organizing it according to the visitors need is a major step in website planning. Content has to be crisp, brief and straight to the point.
Ambiguous content may deter the audience's attention. Hence, content should be well edited and it should accomplish target audience's objectives. It is always better to conduct in depth research before putting the content in your site. You need to categorize content with brief and descriptive words which should be lucid and attractive.
You must keep uploading fresh & good quality content on your website for Google spiders to keep coming back to crawl through your site, which makes an important tool for a better crawl-ability and search engine friendliness.
Friendly URLs
A short and the most relevant URL is the best URL. If a user is able to identify the content of a page with its URL then you’ve done a great job! It is always beneficial to have keyword-rich URLs.
Keyword-rich Tags & Meta Data
Very often sites have the same title tags, which is usually company’s or website’s name. Ideally the title tag should signify the content and subject matter of the page. Since search engines give preference to relevant title tags, it is necessary to make good use of title tags to help search engines understand information on the structure of the HTML document.
At the same time, every webpage must have its own set of unique meta data. It is one of the essentials that help search engines get a better grab of how your website is structured.
Page Structure & Navigation
Your page structure can affect your page optimization a lot. It involves your language, ease of use and navigation within your website. A well laid website navigation system and website structure serves two main purposes – improves user operability & enables search engine spiders to properly crawl through site and index all its pages.
Prepare a well-organized website so that the search engine can recognize where the navigation, content and headings are. Use heading tags for headings and subheadings and as a rule put navigation first. Be specific in coding. Use appropriate codes for programming. The directory structure should not go more than four levels deep.
CSS and unobtrusive JavaScript can provide almost any of the fancy affects you are looking for without sacrificing your search engine rankings.
In nutshell, search engines love well-formulated and clean code that makes a website easier to crawl and index that in-turn is indicated in the favor of the website. Follow W3C standards to construct an intelligent website.
Web Graphics
Search engines do not recognize images and other graphics. If you have some good texts in your content then don't cover it with any graphics. Graphics should be used to make your site look more vibrant and attractive. Graphics should be the garnishing to your website. If you will use it in text then it might decrease your chances for a good ranking in search pages. These graphics include Flash also. When you design a well written text in Flash then it is similar to not having text all. The text which is visible to you isn't visible to the search engines, if it's in flash. Search engines need to have content to list your website. And remember, all graphics no content can make your website dull and invisible to the users. Make sure that all your images carry descriptive alt tags.
At the same time there are quite simple rules that you may follow to even optimize a flash-based website.
Search engines read accessibility contents, texts, hyperlinks as well as dynamic contents from flash files; hence, it is necessary that you optimize flash contents.
As search engines follow hyperlinks for finding the new content, it is advisable to give preference to HTML text links or JavaScript.
You can implement deep linking as search engines index the address of your current website; even though flash website/application is added to it.
Content & Good Quality Fresh Content
Content plays a vital role in optimizing a website. Visitors judge you through the glasses of content and technology used. A well written content represents the authenticity of the website. Content evaluation and organization should be well defined while plotting a website. Building necessary content then organizing it according to the visitors need is a major step in website planning. Content has to be crisp, brief and straight to the point.
Ambiguous content may deter the audience's attention. Hence, content should be well edited and it should accomplish target audience's objectives. It is always better to conduct in depth research before putting the content in your site. You need to categorize content with brief and descriptive words which should be lucid and attractive.
You must keep uploading fresh & good quality content on your website for Google spiders to keep coming back to crawl through your site, which makes an important tool for a better crawl-ability and search engine friendliness.
Friendly URLs
A short and the most relevant URL is the best URL. If a user is able to identify the content of a page with its URL then you’ve done a great job! It is always beneficial to have keyword-rich URLs.
Keyword-rich Tags & Meta Data
Very often sites have the same title tags, which is usually company’s or website’s name. Ideally the title tag should signify the content and subject matter of the page. Since search engines give preference to relevant title tags, it is necessary to make good use of title tags to help search engines understand information on the structure of the HTML document.
At the same time, every webpage must have its own set of unique meta data. It is one of the essentials that help search engines get a better grab of how your website is structured.
Page Structure & Navigation
Your page structure can affect your page optimization a lot. It involves your language, ease of use and navigation within your website. A well laid website navigation system and website structure serves two main purposes – improves user operability & enables search engine spiders to properly crawl through site and index all its pages.
Prepare a well-organized website so that the search engine can recognize where the navigation, content and headings are. Use heading tags for headings and subheadings and as a rule put navigation first. Be specific in coding. Use appropriate codes for programming. The directory structure should not go more than four levels deep.
CSS and unobtrusive JavaScript can provide almost any of the fancy affects you are looking for without sacrificing your search engine rankings.
In nutshell, search engines love well-formulated and clean code that makes a website easier to crawl and index that in-turn is indicated in the favor of the website. Follow W3C standards to construct an intelligent website.
Monday, 16 July 2012
Top Ten Tips To Make Article
Top Ten Tips To Make Article Marketing Work For You
One of the most effective ways to build your credibility, attain search presence and create quality backlinks to your website is through Article Marketing”
Article Marketing involves writing a series of well crafted, knowledgeable articles within your area of business expertise and publishing them not only on your own website but also in various high profile places across the Internet, in order to establish credibility, “Become The Expert”:http://www.nikkipilkington.com/internet-marketing-articles/internet-marketing-article-become-an-expert and help to increase your search engine positions.
However, there is a certain set of rules to help you to use Article Marketing to promote your services, products and website, so here are my Top 10 Tips on Writing and Publishing your own Marketing Articles:
1: Don’t Sell – Give It Away – This type of article is not sales copy. The aim is not to sell your goods or services, but to give away your knowledge for free. Sounds crazy, but the more you give away, the more potential business you’ll receive back. Demonstrate your range of knowledge and you’ll see your online credibility building.
The more free knowledge you give away, the more people will see you as the expert in the field. When those people need what you’re selling, they’re much more likely to come directly to you.
2: Tailor your Title – Make your title alluring and attractive. Questions such as ‘How to…’ and ‘Why’ are good for attracting the reader’s curiosity. Top Tens and Top Fives work well too. Try to place a keyphrase within your title for maximum SEO opportunity.
3: Paragraph – Make your paragraphs short and to the point. Try to avoid paragraphs larger than five lines if you can help it. Think about writing for Internet readers who like to scan for the best bits, so make it easy for them to read.
4: Keywords – You should carefully and strategically plant your best SEO keywords or keyphrases throughout your articles, but it’s vital that they do not obscure the meaning of the sentences or make the article less enjoyable to read.
Don’t make the article just about the keywords; just naturally allow the keywords or keyphrases to be used throughout the article. Use a keyword tool to find the most relevant keywords or phrases to suit your needs.
5: Publish – Internet publishing isn’t like the restricted environment of printed media publishing. The Internet is a great democratic space that allows anyone to get published. When thinking about where you want to publish your articles on the Internet, start with your own website(s).
Next, stake out a few Article Directories such as EzineArticles.com and take a look at their article submission policies. Work out the FIVE or so article directories where you might put your work and make that part of your publishing process. Finally, look at the social networking or business forum sites and consider publishing your articles if their terms and conditions allow.
6: Link – At the very bottom of your article, you should add a backlink to your website. You can add something like ‘For More Articles – visit XXXX or email name@company.com. Some sites do not allow this, so read the submission rules very carefully. Don’t fill your article with links; the focus is the content, nothing else.
7: Tasters/Hooks – Some of the article directories allow you to put a short taster paragraph as part of the submission. This is great, but it’s better to use that same taster idea elsewhere. Post a ‘hook’ or ‘taster’ paragraph up on a forum with a link to the article on your own website. Make the taster drive the reader to your site where they can become a potential client or customer.
Doing this will create a backlink that will improve your SEO and since the forum will probably be optimised too, your article hook will come up on the Search Engines too.
Writing a good taster means giving just enough information to tempt the reader into wanting to finish reading the article. So when writing an article ‘hook’ it’s a balance between giving too much or too little information away.
8: Word Count – Articles between around 300 and 1000 words are a good length for Article Marketing purposes. Too little and you can’t communicate enough to build credibility. Too much, and the average reader will get bored and stop reading before the end. This will prevent them from seeing the link to your website. Don’t waffle on; the length of the article need only be enough words to make your point.
9: – Topic – Choose the kind of topics that people are likely to search for. Imagine that all people using a Search Engine are looking for a solution to a particular problem. Consider how you provide a range of solutions to potential customer problems. Write your article questions or Top 10s around those problems and solutions. When someone uses a Search Engine to find a solution, they should find your article as a potential answer to their problem. Topic choice should be driven by this philosophy.
10: Outsource – Consider employing an article writer to produce the high quality content you need. This can often save you time and money and keeps the flow of articles coming for as long as you have the budget to pay for the service.
Not everyone has the confidence or ability to write articles, don’t miss out on the value of article marketing just because you lack time, confidence or aptitude. When choosing tooutsource your articles to a professional content writer, make sure that they demonstrate to you the ability to write on your topic area and always, ALWAYS choose someone whose English is better than yours.
Writing and publishing your own articles online will provide you with some very valuable exposure across the Internet. The more high quality articles that you write, the more potential traffic you could receive and the stronger your credibility will be.
If you are interested in Article Marketing and would like to know more, please feel free to either email Nikki on nikki@nikkipilkington.com or call us on 0845 544 0428.
If you found this article of interest, please consider sharing it with others using the ‘Share This’ button below to poste to your favourite places.
One of the most effective ways to build your credibility, attain search presence and create quality backlinks to your website is through Article Marketing”
Article Marketing involves writing a series of well crafted, knowledgeable articles within your area of business expertise and publishing them not only on your own website but also in various high profile places across the Internet, in order to establish credibility, “Become The Expert”:http://www.nikkipilkington.com/internet-marketing-articles/internet-marketing-article-become-an-expert and help to increase your search engine positions.
However, there is a certain set of rules to help you to use Article Marketing to promote your services, products and website, so here are my Top 10 Tips on Writing and Publishing your own Marketing Articles:
1: Don’t Sell – Give It Away – This type of article is not sales copy. The aim is not to sell your goods or services, but to give away your knowledge for free. Sounds crazy, but the more you give away, the more potential business you’ll receive back. Demonstrate your range of knowledge and you’ll see your online credibility building.
The more free knowledge you give away, the more people will see you as the expert in the field. When those people need what you’re selling, they’re much more likely to come directly to you.
2: Tailor your Title – Make your title alluring and attractive. Questions such as ‘How to…’ and ‘Why’ are good for attracting the reader’s curiosity. Top Tens and Top Fives work well too. Try to place a keyphrase within your title for maximum SEO opportunity.
3: Paragraph – Make your paragraphs short and to the point. Try to avoid paragraphs larger than five lines if you can help it. Think about writing for Internet readers who like to scan for the best bits, so make it easy for them to read.
4: Keywords – You should carefully and strategically plant your best SEO keywords or keyphrases throughout your articles, but it’s vital that they do not obscure the meaning of the sentences or make the article less enjoyable to read.
Don’t make the article just about the keywords; just naturally allow the keywords or keyphrases to be used throughout the article. Use a keyword tool to find the most relevant keywords or phrases to suit your needs.
5: Publish – Internet publishing isn’t like the restricted environment of printed media publishing. The Internet is a great democratic space that allows anyone to get published. When thinking about where you want to publish your articles on the Internet, start with your own website(s).
Next, stake out a few Article Directories such as EzineArticles.com and take a look at their article submission policies. Work out the FIVE or so article directories where you might put your work and make that part of your publishing process. Finally, look at the social networking or business forum sites and consider publishing your articles if their terms and conditions allow.
6: Link – At the very bottom of your article, you should add a backlink to your website. You can add something like ‘For More Articles – visit XXXX or email name@company.com. Some sites do not allow this, so read the submission rules very carefully. Don’t fill your article with links; the focus is the content, nothing else.
7: Tasters/Hooks – Some of the article directories allow you to put a short taster paragraph as part of the submission. This is great, but it’s better to use that same taster idea elsewhere. Post a ‘hook’ or ‘taster’ paragraph up on a forum with a link to the article on your own website. Make the taster drive the reader to your site where they can become a potential client or customer.
Doing this will create a backlink that will improve your SEO and since the forum will probably be optimised too, your article hook will come up on the Search Engines too.
Writing a good taster means giving just enough information to tempt the reader into wanting to finish reading the article. So when writing an article ‘hook’ it’s a balance between giving too much or too little information away.
8: Word Count – Articles between around 300 and 1000 words are a good length for Article Marketing purposes. Too little and you can’t communicate enough to build credibility. Too much, and the average reader will get bored and stop reading before the end. This will prevent them from seeing the link to your website. Don’t waffle on; the length of the article need only be enough words to make your point.
9: – Topic – Choose the kind of topics that people are likely to search for. Imagine that all people using a Search Engine are looking for a solution to a particular problem. Consider how you provide a range of solutions to potential customer problems. Write your article questions or Top 10s around those problems and solutions. When someone uses a Search Engine to find a solution, they should find your article as a potential answer to their problem. Topic choice should be driven by this philosophy.
10: Outsource – Consider employing an article writer to produce the high quality content you need. This can often save you time and money and keeps the flow of articles coming for as long as you have the budget to pay for the service.
Not everyone has the confidence or ability to write articles, don’t miss out on the value of article marketing just because you lack time, confidence or aptitude. When choosing tooutsource your articles to a professional content writer, make sure that they demonstrate to you the ability to write on your topic area and always, ALWAYS choose someone whose English is better than yours.
Writing and publishing your own articles online will provide you with some very valuable exposure across the Internet. The more high quality articles that you write, the more potential traffic you could receive and the stronger your credibility will be.
If you are interested in Article Marketing and would like to know more, please feel free to either email Nikki on nikki@nikkipilkington.com or call us on 0845 544 0428.
If you found this article of interest, please consider sharing it with others using the ‘Share This’ button below to poste to your favourite places.
Content Development Tips
Read these 13 Content Development Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about SEO tips and hundreds of other topics.
Don't Saturate to Optimize Your Website
There is a distinct difference between providing content that is rich with relevant keywords and providing content that overuses the keywords. Content that has a keyword density that is too high may be flagged as illogical by search engines. As a result your website may be penalized for word stuffing. Also, if your content is virtually saturated with keywords, visitors are not likely to see the benefit of your content. If visitors do not think your website is useful, they are not likely to return and they are not likely to create back links to your website.
Fresh Content Leads to Higher Search Engine Rankings
Keeping your content fresh can help you to increase your search engine placements. Some website owners obtain high search engine rankings and then make the mistake of not wanting to change anything about their website because they don't want to negatively impact their rankings. This strategy is faulted because it is fresh content that keeps visitors coming back to your website. Try rotating your content at least once per month. You will enjoy high traffic to your website which could result in increased rankings.
Is There a Duplicate Content Penalty?
Whether or not popular search engines oppose a penalty for duplicate content is under debate in the search engine optimization (SEO) community. Some argue that it is merely a myth while others testify they have seen a tremendous boost in ratings by simply replacing any duplicated content. One of the main reasons search engines may impose a duplicate content penalty is to avoid serving up nearly identical pages in their rankings. This is not useful to those who use the search engine and may cause people to opt for a different search engine. To be on the safe side create original content on your website and place a copyright notice on your website restricting others from using your content. Also, frequently search for duplicates of your content and contact the webmaster to inform them of the copyright infringements.
Bulleted Content is Easy to Read
Keep your web content easy to read and scan. One way to do this is through the use of bulleted content. Use bullets to highlight key points in your article and to give the reader a good overview of what the article covers. Easy to read text on your website will keep visitors interested in your content and returning to visit. Your search engine placements can benefit from providing content that is appealing to readers.
Hire a Professional Copywriter
One of the best ways to ensure your web content is contributing to solid search engine rankings is to hire a writer with experience writing search engine optimization (SEO) content. One reason to hire a professional is they have the experience and knowledge of SEO to provide you with content that is optimized for search engines. Another reason to hire a writer is they have the talent to create articles that are not only original, informative and interesting but also use your keywords in a way that appears completely natural. You might pay a substantial amount up front for the work of a professional SEO writer but in the long run the benefits you will gain from their work more than compensates for the initial investment. Retaining their services to keep your content fresh can help you to maintain your search engine rankings.
Great Content From Great Writers
Great content is more than useful information. It's compelling, entertaining writing that hooks readers and keeps them coming back for more. After all, searchers are readers. So a successful organic search marketing strategy begins with hiring freelance writers who now what they are doing, like the ones who work for LifeTips. We carefully screen them and hire only the best. Tips that really work aren't easy to write, but our writers have it down to a science. Get the Gurus - LifeTips' writers.
Do Create Useful Content
In optimizing your website you should evaluate the usefulness of your website to visitors. If your website offers interesting information, quality products or helpful services, you are already on your way to increasing traffic to your website. Search engines may be tricked by search engine optimization (SEO) strategies that are geared at increasing rankings and not necessarily providing a quality website but visitors to the website are not likely to be impressed by these techniques. Providing a website that is useful to your visitors and contains quality content will keep visitors interested in your website.
To Optimize Your Website Keep Paragraphs Short
Short paragraphs of 3-5 sentences are ideal when you are creating web content. Website visitors are looking for information quickly. Longer paragraphs are not appealing to most website visitors because it can be difficult to figure out what the paragraph is about right away. Shorter paragraphs can be scanned quickly and the visitor can determine if they wish to continue reading your website. While shorter paragraphs may entice visitors to stay on your website longer, if your content lacks interesting and accurate information visitors will soon exit your website.
Content and Search Engine Optimization
The content on your website should be relative to the overall theme of your website. It should also be written in straightforward language that is easy for visitors to follow. If your content is relative to the keywords you seek to optimize for, you will naturally use these keywords repeatedly and will achieve a keyword density that does not appear forced. Content that is relative and straightforward will also engage readers and keep them returning to your website
Tips for Allowing Others to Duplicate Your Web Content
As the debate on whether or not search engines penalize for duplicate content, there are those who take both sides of the argument. Whether you believe the penalties exist or not, there are some precautions you can take to potentially avoid a penalty if it does exist. Some website owners provide content in exchange for links to their website. The theory behind this strategy is the inbound links will more than compensate for any penalties that may exist. One way to safely allow others to use your content is to provide the content to them in a text only format. This ensures the other website owner will have to do some coding to place the article on their website. The coding is very likely to create enough of a difference in the content that it is not viewed as duplicate content.
Use Keyword Variations to Optimize Your Website
One mistake that novice website owners make is not taking advantage of keyword variations to optimize their website. Repeating the same keyword throughout your article may result in a high keyword density but it might be worthwhile to replace a few of those original keywords with variations of the keyword. While it is a good idea to do keyword research to determine which keywords are popular in search engines, it is important to remember that not all Internet users think alike. For example, a website on keyword variations should contain keyword derivatives or keyword deviation as these might be terms used by Internet searchers. Fill your web content with keywords and variations of these keywords in a natural way and your website will appeal to both visitors and search engines.
Resist the urge to use too many keywords
Even though META keywords are less important now than they were 5 or 10 years ago, you still need them in your site. After all, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of search engines and they all rank sites differently. The META keyword tag can accept up to 35 keywords. Don't use all 35. When search engines see a page with 35 keywords in the META tag, it views that site as not tightly focused enough. Instead, use 8 or fewer highly relevant keywords per page to achieve better rankings.
Keywords are decreasing in importance
At one time, having the right keywords in your META tags was the key to SEO success. Not anymore. As search engines and their ranking techniques have gotten more complex, META tags have taken on less importance in good search engine optimization. You still need to use them wisely and effectively, and keywords placed elsewhere in your site are still very important, but bear in mind that Google employees have published documents stating that Google pays almost no attention to META tags anymore.
Don't Saturate to Optimize Your Website
There is a distinct difference between providing content that is rich with relevant keywords and providing content that overuses the keywords. Content that has a keyword density that is too high may be flagged as illogical by search engines. As a result your website may be penalized for word stuffing. Also, if your content is virtually saturated with keywords, visitors are not likely to see the benefit of your content. If visitors do not think your website is useful, they are not likely to return and they are not likely to create back links to your website.
Fresh Content Leads to Higher Search Engine Rankings
Keeping your content fresh can help you to increase your search engine placements. Some website owners obtain high search engine rankings and then make the mistake of not wanting to change anything about their website because they don't want to negatively impact their rankings. This strategy is faulted because it is fresh content that keeps visitors coming back to your website. Try rotating your content at least once per month. You will enjoy high traffic to your website which could result in increased rankings.
Is There a Duplicate Content Penalty?
Whether or not popular search engines oppose a penalty for duplicate content is under debate in the search engine optimization (SEO) community. Some argue that it is merely a myth while others testify they have seen a tremendous boost in ratings by simply replacing any duplicated content. One of the main reasons search engines may impose a duplicate content penalty is to avoid serving up nearly identical pages in their rankings. This is not useful to those who use the search engine and may cause people to opt for a different search engine. To be on the safe side create original content on your website and place a copyright notice on your website restricting others from using your content. Also, frequently search for duplicates of your content and contact the webmaster to inform them of the copyright infringements.
Bulleted Content is Easy to Read
Keep your web content easy to read and scan. One way to do this is through the use of bulleted content. Use bullets to highlight key points in your article and to give the reader a good overview of what the article covers. Easy to read text on your website will keep visitors interested in your content and returning to visit. Your search engine placements can benefit from providing content that is appealing to readers.
Hire a Professional Copywriter
One of the best ways to ensure your web content is contributing to solid search engine rankings is to hire a writer with experience writing search engine optimization (SEO) content. One reason to hire a professional is they have the experience and knowledge of SEO to provide you with content that is optimized for search engines. Another reason to hire a writer is they have the talent to create articles that are not only original, informative and interesting but also use your keywords in a way that appears completely natural. You might pay a substantial amount up front for the work of a professional SEO writer but in the long run the benefits you will gain from their work more than compensates for the initial investment. Retaining their services to keep your content fresh can help you to maintain your search engine rankings.
Great Content From Great Writers
Great content is more than useful information. It's compelling, entertaining writing that hooks readers and keeps them coming back for more. After all, searchers are readers. So a successful organic search marketing strategy begins with hiring freelance writers who now what they are doing, like the ones who work for LifeTips. We carefully screen them and hire only the best. Tips that really work aren't easy to write, but our writers have it down to a science. Get the Gurus - LifeTips' writers.
Do Create Useful Content
In optimizing your website you should evaluate the usefulness of your website to visitors. If your website offers interesting information, quality products or helpful services, you are already on your way to increasing traffic to your website. Search engines may be tricked by search engine optimization (SEO) strategies that are geared at increasing rankings and not necessarily providing a quality website but visitors to the website are not likely to be impressed by these techniques. Providing a website that is useful to your visitors and contains quality content will keep visitors interested in your website.
To Optimize Your Website Keep Paragraphs Short
Short paragraphs of 3-5 sentences are ideal when you are creating web content. Website visitors are looking for information quickly. Longer paragraphs are not appealing to most website visitors because it can be difficult to figure out what the paragraph is about right away. Shorter paragraphs can be scanned quickly and the visitor can determine if they wish to continue reading your website. While shorter paragraphs may entice visitors to stay on your website longer, if your content lacks interesting and accurate information visitors will soon exit your website.
Content and Search Engine Optimization
The content on your website should be relative to the overall theme of your website. It should also be written in straightforward language that is easy for visitors to follow. If your content is relative to the keywords you seek to optimize for, you will naturally use these keywords repeatedly and will achieve a keyword density that does not appear forced. Content that is relative and straightforward will also engage readers and keep them returning to your website
Tips for Allowing Others to Duplicate Your Web Content
As the debate on whether or not search engines penalize for duplicate content, there are those who take both sides of the argument. Whether you believe the penalties exist or not, there are some precautions you can take to potentially avoid a penalty if it does exist. Some website owners provide content in exchange for links to their website. The theory behind this strategy is the inbound links will more than compensate for any penalties that may exist. One way to safely allow others to use your content is to provide the content to them in a text only format. This ensures the other website owner will have to do some coding to place the article on their website. The coding is very likely to create enough of a difference in the content that it is not viewed as duplicate content.
Use Keyword Variations to Optimize Your Website
One mistake that novice website owners make is not taking advantage of keyword variations to optimize their website. Repeating the same keyword throughout your article may result in a high keyword density but it might be worthwhile to replace a few of those original keywords with variations of the keyword. While it is a good idea to do keyword research to determine which keywords are popular in search engines, it is important to remember that not all Internet users think alike. For example, a website on keyword variations should contain keyword derivatives or keyword deviation as these might be terms used by Internet searchers. Fill your web content with keywords and variations of these keywords in a natural way and your website will appeal to both visitors and search engines.
Resist the urge to use too many keywords
Even though META keywords are less important now than they were 5 or 10 years ago, you still need them in your site. After all, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of search engines and they all rank sites differently. The META keyword tag can accept up to 35 keywords. Don't use all 35. When search engines see a page with 35 keywords in the META tag, it views that site as not tightly focused enough. Instead, use 8 or fewer highly relevant keywords per page to achieve better rankings.
Keywords are decreasing in importance
At one time, having the right keywords in your META tags was the key to SEO success. Not anymore. As search engines and their ranking techniques have gotten more complex, META tags have taken on less importance in good search engine optimization. You still need to use them wisely and effectively, and keywords placed elsewhere in your site are still very important, but bear in mind that Google employees have published documents stating that Google pays almost no attention to META tags anymore.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)