Why Most Of The Sites FAIL To Have Good Ranking In Search Engine

[HireMyMum]

Interesting post GreenTune, those 3 'tips' are totally true, I think the most important thing for a newbie to know is how to work out whether their keywords meet those tip/guides.

It is not as simple as it sounds when you are starting out, and my experience has been that investing in a truly worthwhile tool such as Market Samurai or Keyword Spy, I personally use Market Samurai, and following the detailed tutorials provided, help you to determine whether you have good keywords and their value. It also helps you to understand the importance of those tips.

I 'assume' most people here also use Market Samurai. Good luck newbies : )

Cheers
Leigh

[Brismom1]

I use market Samurai, as well as follow a really awesome link building plan for SEO.

I agree with the 3 tips for keyword optimization.

I would like to add that while the steps to getting traffic are easy they must be done on a consistent basis, everyday.

[HireMyMum]

Brismom1,

I would love to hear more about your awesome link building plan if you have time.

Cheers
Leigh

[Lynn Terry]

Of the 3, my favorite is:

Target Keywords with Commercial Value

A common oversight!

[HireMyMum]

Hi mulen24,

One big mistake I made throughout my past year was trying to squeeze my existing sites into a micro niche when they were only a niche. But once I started using Market Samurai properly plus the new features that have been added in the past month, finding the keywords is much easier, but I am sure the veteran of IM would tell you it was easier back in the early days when not many people knew about it. I remember property investing was the same here in OZ ten years ago.

But if it wasn't widely taught - you may have never known about it, even if you have to work a bit harder to find the money phrase, it is worth the hard work.

Personally it is like a game to me, each day I get up to check on my score card and do a happy dance if something moves in the direction I am hoping.

The difference is in the actions you take to make it happen. I am in my early stages being under 2 years in IM, not everyone who learns the tips will implement them!

BTW, isn't it an amazing community to share such valuable advice so freely with others ... it is a testament to the people here.

Good luck matey
Leigh

[Lynn Terry]

Thanks for the tips, they make sense. But what if everyone followed them? Then wouldn't it be harder to find keywords that aren't competitive? That's the hardest part for me, finding keywords that are searched for but aren't competitive, but I'm determined to continue working at it.

Most keyword phrases aren't nearly as competitive as they appear. For starters, don't look at the number of results in a Google search. The only true competition is the Top 3-5 results, because that is where YOU want to be.

Take those Top 3-5 results and analyze their on-page optimization, and their backlinks. Look at the anchor text too - see exactly how many of those inbound links are optimized for YOUR search term (keyword phrase).

You'll start to see that it isn't as competitive as you first thought.

Also, go for the longtail keyword phrases. They are easier to rank for, with much less competition, and they convert at a higher rate because they are more specific.

[wade_watson]

My new favorite online tool is Microsoft AdCenter Labs Detecting Online Commercial Intention (http://adlab.microsoft.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/), which will let you run a keyword through for to get an idea of it's potential value (switch bullet button to "Query"). It returns an number below 1, like "0.87". This means 87% probability of commercial intent. Look out for the "Non-commercial Intent" results, though. It seems to give this instead of rendering com'l intent numbers below 50%. I find it interesting how many similar terms get very different commercial intent numbers. I now regularly work figures from this tool into keyword choice process.

I'll credit Lynn's pal Dan Theis for this idea.

[Lynn Terry]

Dan Thies rocks! http://www.seofaststart.com

[Brismom1]

(Posted by Hiremymum

I would love to hear more about your awesome link building plan if you have time.)




For my linking plan it is a series of

4 blog posts per week
4 forum posts per week
3 social bookmarks per week
1 ezine article per month
1 squidoo page per month
1 yahoo answer per week

When I post to any of these I always include anchor text if I can for my main keyphrases, or a link back to my site, mixing up deep links ( to all of my pages within the store) with home page links.

This is a very powerful link building plan as it has kept me on the first page of google in the top 5 for my main keyphrases as long as I follow it consistently. To start though I used market samurai to find which keyword phrases were getting enough traffic and which keyword phrases I could get on the first page of google for.

While this has kept me on the first page, I am realizing that it takes more than just getting to the top 5 to get your site to convert.

[busymomma]

I have learned from the tops in SEO since the beginning and I still totally suck at it. I think the main reason was when I was learning so much of the SEO I was also learning a ton of hmtl and everything else that had to do with site building. It's really not possible to perfect and learn everything at once no matter how hard you try.

So while I know and do a lot of great stuff with SEO. The main one is the one I can never figure out. Keywords. :( I'm not afraid to admit, I really, really need help at keyword research. Is there somewhere I can go take an ecourse for it? or some great articles I can go to? TIA

[HireMyMum]

Brismom,

That sounds like a great recipe, do you manage to stay on top of it. With other clients I find I take a back seat to them and have not been as diligent as I should have been.

Cheers
Leigh

[StephenT]

Val, I'm just a newbie, but I am taking the thirty day challenge and learning about marketing Samurai and it is big stuff to me, well, most of it. I, like you tried to learn it all at once. The subject is so vast! I think I only did it half vast! :)

[angienewton]

The main one is the one I can never figure out. Keywords. :( I'm not afraid to admit, I really, really need help at keyword research. Is there somewhere I can go take an ecourse for it? or some great articles I can go to? TIA

Val,
I'm happy to help! It took me over a year to finally grasp keyword research and since then I have made it to 1st page Google for many keyword phrases, thanks to Lynn's guidance over the last year.

But I also found this simple little guide that Wordtracker has and even though a little silly, it really helped. Take a peek at this keyword research guide (http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/keyword-research-guide).

Also Lynn highly recommends SEO Fast-Start (http://www.seofaststart.com).

Hope this helps!

[angienewton]

Oh and I meant to say, just so you know, you don't have to use those big keyword research pieces of software. Sure down the road you may want to but start out simple and use the free Wordtracker suggestion tool (http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/). Works every time!

[busymomma]

Thanks Stephen and Angie. Angie, I'll check out the links you suggested. I know it's too important to be skipping over doing a good job at.

[Brismom1]

Hiremymum,

I do manage to stay on top of it actually, it only takes about 15-20 minutes a day.

I did not touch on keywords much in the post but it is crucial to have your website optimized with the main keyword phrases as well for the link building plan to work.