|
Back To The Internet Traffic Basics
The world of Internet traffic revolves around two separate entities:
the search engines and the social networks. It used to be that the only
way to capture traffic was through search engine placement, however,
now there is a great deal of debate in this area as social networking
becomes the new strategy for increasing the traffic to sites. Here we
will discuss the different skills you need for either strategy and some
different places to research this highly important aspect of Internet
marketing.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization deals with how search engines determine the
ranking in search results when people go to search for a site based on
particular words or phrases. There are a number of search engines and
each of them has their own SEO algorithms. A great deal of research is
carried out to determine what those algorithms might be by trial and
error, even though the companies don't necessarily disclose how they
are ranking web pages. It's become quite a science and businesses will
pay big bucks if they think they can get their pages served first to a
customer before their competitor's in a search result. The reason is
simple: most people using a search engine only look at the first two
pages of results.
So, it stands to reason that the higher you place in the ranking, the
more likelihood you will be found through random searches by people
using search engines like Yahoo! or Google. How will you be able to
compete with people who are shelling out tons of money on outwitting
the search engines?
While you probably can learn some of the same strategies they are using
like placing keywords in your web pages, you will find that search
engines have gotten far more egalitarian in recent years. They've
recognized that large companies have learned how to program their pages
to cheat the algorithms so now the search engines are using other
requirements. One of these is the scanning for original content on
sites. Although you want to keep your content fresh, you don't want to
update your site every hour, as too frequent updating can also be
penalized in the search engines.
To learn how some of the different SEO factors affect your page ranking, check out: http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm
. Appropriate keywords are still a very important part of Internet
marketing, but where you place them in your HTML coding also affects
how you rank. You can get your own list of keywords by looking at the
most popular searches for a typical keyword or phrase and finding out
what people have searched in the last month through Overture. This is a
free SEO tool that can be viewed here: http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-suggestions-overture/ .
Another Strategy - Social Networking
This strategy relies on the social networks which house millions of
users and which can be mined for traffic. Examples of powerful social
networks are Myspace.com and StumbleUpon (a search engine based on
social ranking). Bulletin boards, web log (blog) communities, and other
types of online communities are great places to establish a web
presence and market your website URL. The idea is to develop a fan base
in these areas that already have huge traffic and then pull those fans
into your website via links.
This strategy requires time devoted to being a known contributor of
social networking sites. It doesn't work to just add a profile and
leave. You have to engage discussions, set yourself up as an expert in
your field, and then market your URL in such a way so as not to be
perceived that you are spamming a site. Spamming a site with your web
address and no actual feedback or community participation will only get
you banned. So, you have to be willing to give of yourself and to
market yourself in a discreet, but effective manner.
Find
out ways to make money using these ideas
click here to see our full report!
|
