Killer SEO

Search Engine Optimization

Anyone who owns a website has probably spent a lot of time and perhaps money at trying to rank high on search engines. They have probably heard a lot of ideas from search engine experts all claiming to know the secret ingredient to favorable SERP, or perhaps even to secret to getting onto page one of Google.

The thing is that it is no big secret, the methods to achieving good search engine placement have been laid out in plain english. Still some choose to believe that there is some magic formula that will allow you to out rank websites that have been around for years, providing quality content and building solid relationships with relevant companies. If you really believe that you can spend $100 for a million inbound links and end up on page one of Google then I have some fairy dust that I can sell you for $50 that will turn every visitor to your website into a potential customer.

The Secret To Good Search Engine Placement

The secret to good search engine placement is that there is no secret. If you want great placement you need to conduct extensive research.

You need to do the following:

• Write relevant content and a lot of it
  
• Forge relationships (inbound links) with relevant websites
• Place the appropriate keywords and descriptions on each page of your website
• Make your website 511 compliant
• Validate your website through an HTML/CSS validator
• Submit a sitemap to Google
  
• Submit your website to all available search engines, especially Google
• Submit your website to as many free directories as you can
• Verify that all links on your website are working

What NOT to do:

• Sign up for any linking schemes, link rings or just share links with anyone
  
• Place a lot of spam or affiliate links on all your web pages (reserve for only a few pages)
• Use any black hat SEO tactics (hidden text, false links)
• Provide false information of any kind to trick visitors or insult any groups or individuals

In summary the best way to insure that you can eventually rank high and not get banned is to play fair. It might take a while to rank high but in the end you will have a solid place in the search engine ranking placements.

You can always hire professionals to handle your search engine optimization but make sure that you hire the right company. If they promise too much then odds are they are up to no good. I have seen websites go from a page rank of 0 to 4 in one month and then back to 0 the next month after Google discovered the black hat techniques that were used, and believe me they will find out eventually and then you will get banned, not cool.

When you search for a company to provide search engine optimization they should take a day or so to look over your website (or content if the website is not yet built). Based on your content the company should be able to tell you what they can do for you, including which keywords you have a good chance of ranking highly with. Then they will "optimize" your website for those particular keywords.

General rule is that if a keyword is very common or "hot" then the odds that you can make the first page are very slim, however if you can identify a particular niche and isolate the terms that may be used to search for such a niche then you may possibly have a shot of competing effectively. Let's look at an example to elaborate on what we have just covered.

Let's say that you have a custom wedding bouquet shop. You want to be found online in generic searches rather than throw money at costly pay per click campaigns. You may find it almost impossible to rank on the first page using the keyword wedding. It may be a bit easier to rank well with the keyword (phrase) custom wedding bouquet. However you may stand a very good chance at ranking page 1 with custom wedding bouquets in Richmond Hill New York. This is what web gurus refer to as the long tail. It basically refers to the variations of major keywords that are utilized in order to corner a particular niche.

You should have carefully considered much of this before you even began building your website. In some cases you may not even need to focus on general keywords. Take for instance if you are building an ecommerce website. You may find that you will have hundred of keywords to optimize your website for. In ecommerce website the goal is to be found in a number of ways. You would hope to place well when someone searches for a particular name brand, a particular product using a model number or name and for the type of product line. An example would be Kohler, Kohler Faucet K-123B or plumbing supplies.

If you are going to be selling products online it would be very difficult to rank high by product model number but here are some methods that you may use to gain ranking. Try starting a blog or a forum on the particular industry that you are serving. For instance if you sell the Kohler K-123B faucet then write about it, maybe start a forum or wiki on all of your products. Provide installation instructions, talk about famous people who own them or provide a history or deatailed information in the process and ingredients used in production, basically anything that you offer your customer in order to set your website apart for the scores of other website that are all offering the same products.

If you can apply the same thought process to your particular product, service and website then you should be able to come up with your own methods. Don't be afraid to think outside the box and definately try different things, if one thing doesn't work you can always make adjustments and try again. The entire process of marketing is ever evolving. What works one day may not work the next. You will find that ecommerce is similar in some ways but it is an entirely different machine in a lot of ways.

Good luck and happy webbing!!

What is Ecommerce?

Do you want to join millions of others and start generating an income online?

If so what seems to be preventing you from getting involved?

Perhaps some of the following reasons:

• You think you lack the technical knowledge necessary.
• Perhaps don't know if you have a good idea or not.
• Don't have the capital to get started.
• Simply don't know how to get involved.

Well you are not alone while millions of individuals and companies are all making money online millions of others are sitting by the sidelines, interested in getting involved but either intimidated, confused or simply not motivated enough.

The first step to getting involved would certainly be to get motivated. Here are some motivational points:

• Billions of dollars are exchanged online each year.
• Ecommerce is still in it's infancy, relatively speaking.
• The online market accommodates small business in the same way that it does for larger ones, meaning you can compete successfully with mega corporations.
• There are many free ways to make money online.

What is ecommerce?

In literal terms "ecommerce" means electronic commerce. Is it basically the process of transferring funds electronically. That being said when you actually consider the broadness of this definition then you come to realize that it is very easy to take part in the internet economy.

It is not necessary to have a website designed for selling tangible products in order to participate in the ecommerce arena. You can practically sell anything, once you can initiate the electronic transfer of funds. By now you might be asking yourself what in tarnations am I referring to.

Well the answer is simple. Sell anything that someone is willing to pay for whether directly or indirectly. For instance you can sell information for free and make a profit. How? well let's examine this.

Lets use an example to illustrate this point. Say you work for an investment firm. You have a ton of knowledge that you can share with others. You may already be doing it, at parties, family reunions, in the car with friends or even at work with clients, right?

You can put that information to use for yourself and do a world of good for those out there looking for some quality information, and you can do it for free. Start a blog. A simple blog talking about what you do, trends in the market, offer some advice or tips, whatever (as long as it is legal, and of course ethical). If the information you post is valuable to the public then you might soon enjoy some traffic sent to you from various search engines. If you find that this begins to happen then you can start selling advertising on your website based on the traffic you are generating.

There you are, one simple way to make money online, without spending a penny, just some time, spare time if you will.

The key to having a successful blog is to provide content that is interesting to you, something you are passionate about, something that you don't mind writing about on a daily basis. Otherwise you might find yourself starting a project and then backing out soon after.

Another way you can make money online without spending any money is by taking advantage of all the free advertising that is available. Many individuals and companies focus on marketing online businesses online, but what about offline businesses? Let's use another example.

Let's say that you have a small printing press & stationary store. Business is slow because you don't really have the luxury of much foot traffic well why not advertise online. You can list your company online on all of the search engines and free directories. Most will also allow you to include a brief description of your services along with contact information. You can also list with free directories and with free classifieds such as craigslist.org. Now even though you don't get much foot traffic you may begin to receive exposure online and this may lead to an increase in business.

Many freelancers advertise their services online whether they are computer repair technicians, hair stylist, photographers or musicians, there is a wealth of online resources that are available for free to increase your exposure.

By now you are probably saying to yourself, "that's not ecommerce, where is the electronic transfer of funds" and you are correct, what I just described is e marketing, this is different from ecommerce. While ecommerce is the act of selling "something" online e marketing is the act of using the internet domain to advertise services and create customers.

On the flip side of this comparison is the fact that you can perform the act of "ecommerce", that is transfer funds electronically online for goods or services that were exchanged completely offline. Let me introduce another example.

Let's say that the wedding band you hired through a referral from the tuxedo guys needed a deposit 1 week before the wedding and they send you an email invoice. You click on it and it takes you to Google Checkout. You pay the deposit, get married to some great pop goth music and all is well. You have just entered into and ecommerce situation and did not receive any goods online what-so-ever.

It truly is amazing the amount of resources that the average individual has available to them these days. You can now send someone a message online and accept their credit card payment, all practically for free (some transaction fees apply).

Whether or not we know it all of us have been involved in some manner or another in electronic commerce. The focus of this blog however would be to provide the information necessary for you to make a conscious effort to take part in the internet economy an generate an income in some way shape or form. Hopefully you can start to understand the broadness and the potential of doing business online.

While it is possible to make some money online with minimal investment of time and no capital it may not be easy, however if you have more time and a substantial budget you may be able to get involved in a much bigger way.

Before we even begin our discussion you should first browse the internet for some products that you may have access to on a reseller level or at least some interest in selling. Perhaps you don't intend to sell any products but rather a service. First thing to do is to research your competition, who is selling your products or services? Are they successful? How can you compete? Why would someone purchase from you rather than them? What sets you apart from the others selling the same products or services?

Once you have been able to answer those questions then you would be in great shape to begin setting up your own ecommerce operation.

Finding Dropshippers

Drop Shipping 101

Finding a company to drop ship products to your customers is pretty easy these days, simply do a Google search and you will find a ton of companies advertising thousands of products that you can sell on your website. The only problem is that you will be competing with a lot of others that are doing the exact same thing. And if you really analyze the situation the party that is really making all the money is the drop shipper. And in reality you will probably not be getting the best deal on your products either.

So why is this the case? Well it is not very efficient for a company to drop ship 1 item at a time. Especially if they are only making a few bucks off of each product. It is certainly more profitable for a wholesaler to sell in bulk, hence the term wholesaler. Therefore when you find a drop shipper that is willing to ship one item at a time you will most likely not be getting the "best" deal for that particular product.

Now that I have just made this statement, let me take it back, somewhat. There are companies out there that will drop ship one item at a time and still offer a fair deal to their resellers. But they would usually require a lot more from their resellers before setting up an account. Some may even be reluctant to deal with companies that operate exclusively online. Additionally, you may be required to place an initial order or have a showroom for some products. If you can find wholesalers such as these then you can be assured that the stringent weeding out process has left you with less competition and you stand a better chance of succeeding with your online store.

The best places to find quality wholesalers and manufacturers would be at trade shows and business to business listings. You may be able to find decent listings online but you will have to weed through all of the scam lists and typical lists you find online where only a portion of the companies listed are actually legitimate. Also think about it, why would you have to pay for a list of companies that need to find resellers? If a company is real and legitimate then you should be able to find them without paying for a listing. That said you may find a list or two that is fairly legitimate and although you could research on your own and find these companies, it does save a lot of time if someone has already made a list.

The best way to find drop shippers, again, would be to carefully research various companies and speak with them. Also contact some of their resellers and see if they are willing to share information with you. The general rule is that if it's very easy to become a reseller then you probably aren't getting such a great deal.

If you are searching for products first then building a website based on what you find then you would certainly want to research the market first. You may find that it is completely saturated or that you cannot compete with others selling the same products.

You will certainly have to spend time researching the market place, but it is very worthwhile to do so. This is the only way to find your niche and enjoy success selling online.