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Search Engine Optimization is a process of choosing the most appropriate targeted keyword phrases related to your site and ensuring that this ranks your site highly in search engines so that when someone searches for specific phrases it returns your site on tops. It basically involves fine tuning the content of your site along with the HTML and Meta tags and also involves appropriate link building process. The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, AOL and Ask Jeeves. Search engines keep their methods and ranking algorithms secret, to get credit for finding the most valuable search-results and to deter spam pages from clogging those results. A search engine may use hundreds of factors while ranking the listings where the factors themselves and the weight each carries may change continually. Algorithms can differ so widely that a webpage that ranks #1 in a particular search engine could rank #200 in another search engine. New sites need not be “submitted” to search engines to be listed. A simple link from a well established site will get the search engines to visit the new site and begin to spider its contents. It can take a few days to even weeks from the referring of a link from such an established site for all the main search engine spiders to commence visiting and indexing the new site.

If you are unable to research and choose keywords and work on your own search engine ranking, you may want to hire someone to work with you on these issues.

Search engine marketing and promotion companies, will look at the plan for your site and make recommendations to increase your search engine ranking and website traffic. If you wish, they will also provide ongoing consultation and reporting to monitor your website and make recommendations for editing and improvements to keep your site traffic flow and your search engine ranking high. Normally your search engine optimization experts work with your web designer to build an integrated plan right away so that all aspects of design are considered at the same time.

It is recommended to use keywords in page titles itself. This title tag is different from a Meta tag, but it’s worth considering it in relation to them. Whatever text one places in the title tag (between the <title> and </title> portions) will appear in the title bar of browsers when they view the web page. Some browsers also append whatever you put in the title tag by adding their own name, as for example Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or OPERA.

The actual text you use in the title tag is one of the most important factors in how a search engine may decide to rank your web page. In addition, all major web crawlers will use the text of your title tag as the text they use for the title of your page in your listings.

If you have designed your website as a series of websites or linked pages and not just a single Home Page, you must bear in mind that each page of your website must be search engine optimized. The title of each page i.e. the keywords you use on that page and the phrases you use in the content will draw traffic to your site.

The unique combination of these words and phrases and content will draw customers using different search engine terms and techniques, so be sure you capture all the keywords and phrases you need for each product, service or information page.

The most common mistake made by small business owners when they first design their website is to place their business name or firm name in every title of every page. Actually most of your prospective customers do not bother to know the name of your firm until after they have looked at your site and decided it is worth book marking.

So, while you want your business name in the title of the home page, it is probably a waste of valuable keywords and space to put it in the title line of every page on your site. Why not consider putting keywords in the title so that your page will display closer to the top of the search engine listing.

Dedicating first three positions for keywords in title avoiding the stop words like ‘and’, ‘at’ and the like is crucial in search engine optimization.

Digg is a massive website community where you can submit an article, video or podcast and online users can vote on what you submitted.

If a large number of members Digg (Vote) for you, your listing could move up to the home page this would give you massive amounts of traffic.

This Traffic may not increase your sales but it will help Alexa rank as well as a backlink to your site.

Adding a Digg Button on your Directory is simple just follow the instructions below.

This code will allow your visitors submit your articles to digg

enter the following code in article.tpl just before <table align=”center”

border=”0″ width=”80%”>

 {literal}<center><script src=”http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js” mce_src=”http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js” type=”text/javascript”></script></center>{/literal}

Demo - http://www.mainsearches.com/articles/article-6.html

After reading discussions about unpaid submissions and the frustrations of directory owners regarding this, I thought we should all look at this from a different perspective in an attempt to reduce the occurrences of non-paid submissions.

After making some changes in our primary web directory, I noticed a nice improvement, and the number of unpaid submissions has dropped significantly.

1. Not all unpaid submissions are spam. Assume so and it could be your loss.

2. The biggest tip: the easier it is for a submitter to complete the process, the greater the chance of a successful submission. Smaller directories could benefit by not requiring a user to register prior to submitting a site, and also by removing the captcha.

3. Clearly define the pricing/term on the submission form. Nobody likes finding out it’s an annual fee after the fact. I think these accounts for a large number of abandoned submissions. You fill out the submission form thinking it’s a one time fee only to find out otherwise on the payment page. Look at it from the submitter’s perspective.

We’ve also modified our payment pages and PayPal receipts to clearly define the submission fee as well as the term.

4. If your directory was initially a free directory you could be receiving submissions from someone providing a service to others. Rather than ban the domain or penalize the site owner in some way, take a moment to contact the submission company and advise them that your directory now charges a submission fee. If it’s an automated process for them, they’re likely unaware that you’ve made any changes.

5. Consider the fact that errors are inevitable. Internet connections fail, payment processors have glitches, our own hosting can fail us sometimes. Again, take a moment to prepare a standardized email template and send the submitter a link to the payment page. They might have experienced an error during the submission process and gave up (remember about making the submission process easy?).

Sending them a link to the payment page and a courteous email allows them an opportunity to easily complete the submission and payment. I’ve had one submitter immediately follow up with multiple submissions - they had the impression that there was a problem with the directory after encountering an error.

6. Allow a few days before you decide to delete unpaid submissions - we’ve received emails a day or two later from submitters that are interested in their listing, but had a problem during the submission process.

7. Yes, there are a large number of submissions that can be considered as spam or intentional, but let’s not lump all unpaid submissions together.

Do you have any suggestions? I think we can all contribute and add to our overall success as a group; something I’d like to see.

Posted By CReed Your Comments.

It is worth cataloguing the basic principles to be enforced to increase website traffic and search engine rankings.

• Create a site with valuable content, products or services.
• Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.
• Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.
• Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.
• Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.
• Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do not engage an automated submission service.
• Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.
• Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.
• Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you.
• Make your customer visit easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, reduction coupons etc.
• Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field.
• When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer’s experience fast and easy.
• When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, but it is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.
• Don’t look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real store to which your customers with the same seriousness.