Working at Home on the Internet

Do It Yourself SEO

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Excerpt #2 from Responder.com

Can I do this myself?

As you can see, effective search engine promotion can be very time-consuming. Most top-ranked sites have full-time professionals who ensure they remain on top and stay that way. Others hire professional agencies to perform their search engine promotion efforts.

With all the time, effort and information to learn, can I really do this myself? The answer is yes, but you will have to work hard at it initially.

The key to getting into search engines is trial and error. What works today may or may not work tomorrow. Nothing remains constant. This is good and bad. Good because it keeps deceptive sites using shady techniques on their toes and increases the quality of the search results. And its bad because it keeps the rest of us constantly on our toes.

There are resources for the individual site owner who wishes to perform their own Web site promotion. First, we would recommend visiting the Search Engine Forums , becoming a member, read everyones ideas and ask some questions.

There’s plenty of other resources for the aspiring search engine promoter. Keep in mind that search engine promotion is a constantly changing field. To keep ahead of the game requires a diligent effort and plenty of research.

Last installment tomorrow…

Let me know it you think this helps you…

October 31st, 2005 at 01:35pm | Posted by Joe | Basics, SEO | reader remarks | Print This Post

Getting Into Search Directories

This is an excerpt from an advice directory on Responders.com…
I hope you find it useful, I did.

How do I get into search directories?

Getting a top listing in search directories–especially Yahoo!–is essential to successful search engine promotion of your Web site. Here’s some tips on preparing your site for submittal to search directories.

Pre-Submittal Tips:
Search directories are much more picky about the sites they choose to accept or reject. Remember: a person will physically visit your site and judge its content. For that reason, you must have a clean and intuitive site design coupled with high-quality information.
Spend some time looking at the other sites currently listed in the category you’re looking at. What does your site offer that the current sites do not? How will you benefit the directory by being listed there?
Do a site clean-up. Make sure you’re page titles aren’t outrageously long, stuffed with keywords or worse than that, stuffed with garbage keywords like “Pamela Anderson or Pokemon”. This is a sure-fire way to not get into the index or get banned. Make sure your META keywords and description tags contain accurate information.
Submission Tips:
Yahoo
Commercial sites must use the Business Express submission at a cost of $199. This provides “Guaranteed and expedited consideration of your site within 7 business days.” learn more
All other sites may use the Business Express if they wish, but can also use the free submission. learn more
If you use the free submission, do not re-submit your site more than once every three weeks until it’s accepted. Be very careful when choosing your site’s title and description. The title should be your company or Web site name. Be sure to make the description short (two sentences max), readable and contain your most important keyword(s).
Looksmart
All sites have the option of Express Submit at a cost of $199 or Basic Submit. Express Submit guarantees that you “Get your submission reviewed within two business days.” learn more
All sites submitted to the Looksmart directory have the opportunity of “suggesting” their title and description. Looksmart editors tend to greatly modify the suggested description, even with an Express Submit. If accepted, your description will most likely be very different from the one you submitted. They will also assign your site a specific weight depending on how relevant they feel your site is.
Open Directory
All sites are submitted to a volunteer category editor who reviews, edits and accepts or rejects your site’s listing. Do not re-submit your site more than once a month until listed–category editors do not appreciate multiple, mass submissions.

October 31st, 2005 at 01:32pm | Posted by Joe | Google, SEO | reader remarks | Print This Post

What are Meta Tags?

Third and last installment from Responders.com advice: (it helps to have a knowledge of HTML)

When creating an HTML page, there’s a section at the top of the code called the HEAD area. This section starts with and ends with . within this section are the TITLE and all META tags. The most useful META tags are the description and keywords tags.

META Description — Use the META description to enter a 2 sentence, keyword-rich explanation of what your Web site or business contains or does. Keep this as short as possible while still providing a quality description.
Use this format:

META Keywords — Use the META keywords to enter multiple keywords, typically seperated by commas. Keep this to a maximum of 150 characters. Again, do not enter too many keywords or use irrelevant keywords (ie. pamela anderson or pokemon) just to get traffic!
Use this format:

Be sure to add a proper page title that includes your top keyword(s) and possibly your company or sitename.

Here’s a good example:

What do search engines look for?

Search engines look for quality text content. As stated above, the search engines can’t read your graphics, flash presentations or dynamic content. However, they typically do index most of the text on your pages. Write, write and write again! The key to top search engine placement is good quality text information.

Be sure to include detailed explanations while tasefully repeating important keywords to achieve the correct keyword density. Of utmost importance is to create a keyword-rich Web site without offending your visitors or setting off any red flags with the search engines.

Once again, do not just keep repeating keywords for keywords sake. Repeat them just enough to increase your relevancy without sounding unprofessional to your site visitors. THIS IS A FINE LINE!

Because creating a keyword-rich Web site can be very difficult, it may be beneficial to hire a professional to optimize your Web site for you. There are many professional services that will analyze your Web site and help you make it search engine friendly.

Hope these words of advice help…

October 31st, 2005 at 01:16pm | Posted by Joe | Basics, SEO | reader remarks | Print This Post