By David Leonhardt

From the obvious to the "Hey-I-never-thought-of-that-great-idea-before", here are 10 of the top 52 tips on how to optimize your website for its turbo-charge rocket ride up the search engine rankings.

Be bold. Use the tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.

Deep linking. Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible. What does it tell a search engine when other web sites are linking to different pages on your site? That you obviously have lots of worthwhile content. What does it tell a search engine that all your links are coming in to the home page? That you have a shallow site of little value, or that your links were generated by automation rather than by the value of your site. Here is an example of deep linking, in this case to my personal happiness workbook.

Become a foreigner. Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?

Newsletters. Offer articles to ezine publishers that archive their ezines. The links stay live often for many years in their archives.

First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won't follow additional links to the same page. You can see this in action at the link to the home page on this web site monitoring page

Multiple domains. If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?

Article exchanges. You've heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someone else's article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links. (More on high quality links in other tips.)

Titles for links. Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.

Not anchor text. Don't overdo the anchor text. You don't want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation - something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name other times, "Gumbo Pudding Pop" occasionally, "Get gumbo pudding pops" as well, "Gumbo-flavored pudding pops" some other times, etc.

Site map. A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too. It's called the navigation bar. See how the second navigation bar at the bottom of Last Minute Florida Villas is like a mini-site map?

There you have it: 10 of the 52 Top SEO Tips, a free tip sheet that comes with Don't Get Banned By the Search Engines:

There is a lot more to search engine optimization, and there are always more details when looking at an individual site. But these tips should help any website significantly improve its rankings.

posted : http://www.seo-writer.com/reprint/top-seo-tips.html

1. AdSense Earning = Impression-count x Click-though-rate x Cost-per-click x smart-pricing-factor.

2. Impression count is basically referring to your traffic. It means the number of times AdSense block is displayed.

3. Click-through-rate (CTR) is ratio of clicks per impressions. It can range from 0.1% to 30%, but most commonly around 1% to 10%.

4. Cost-per-click (CPC) is the earning you get per click. While traditionally it refers to the amount advertisers pay for each click, it can also mean the amount publishers get for each click.

5. Smart-pricing is AdSense method to determine how valuable clicks from your site is worth. If clicks on your site doesn’t provide good value to advertisers, e.g. from visitors’ geo-location that seldom translate to sales, you will only get a fraction of the supposed CPC.

6. Apply for AdSense account via blogger.com for faster approval.

7. Once you get your AdSense publisher code, you can put it any of your websites without requiring further approval.

8. Read and reread Google AdSense Program Policies and Terms and Conditions.

9. Don’t click on your own ads, or ask people to click, even if you are using proxies.

10. Don’t use click-bots.

11. Don’t encourage your visitors to click on ads. The only acceptable text is “Sponsored Links” and “Advertisements”.

12. Don’t put competitor contextual ads on the same page as your AdSense, for example: Yahoo Publisher Network, Clicksor. Non-contextual ads are ok.

13. Don’t put your ads on objectionable material, e.g. adult sites, gambling sites, mp3, etc.

14. Basically, don’t cheat AdSense. Google will catch you, sooner or later.

15. Viewing your on website will not get you banned. Just make sure you don’t click on the ads.

16. However, repeatedly reload your page to jack up page impressions can get you banned.

17. When in doubt don’t hesitate to contact the AdSense team. They are very helpful.

18. Choose a high paying niche without too much competition.

19. You can try highest paying keywords from cwire.org, but know before-hand that you’ll face very fierce competitions.

20. Use Overture Bid Tool and Search Engine Keyword Tool to find suitable keyword.

21. Consider signing-up for AdWords and create a mini campaign. It can help you to understand the working of AdSense.
    
    

22. Put your targeted-keyword on Page Title.

23. Repeat the keywords in your content.

24. Learn HTML.

25. Put emphasis around your keywords by using HTML tags like

    …

    ,

    …

    , …, …, e.g. AdSense Tips .

26. Get domain name that contains your targeted keyword.

27. Submit your website to directories for inclusion, e.g. dmoz.org, yahoo directories

28. Submit your URL to search engines for crawling.

29. Create and submit your sitemaps to Google Sitemap (sitemap.xml) and Yahoo (urllist.txt)

30. Google is not the only search engine. Optimize for different engines as well. You are very likely to face less competition than in Google.

31. Invest for original fresh content. Write or pay for contents regularly.

32. Use copyscape.com to find content theft. You invest for your content. Don’t let it be taken by unscrupulous webmasters.

33. Article marketing is one of the best way to deliver traffic to your site. Write and submit articles to article-submission sites. Include short summary and hyperlinks to your website in the author information box.

34. Don’t use objectionable methods to draw visitors to your site; buying traffics, spyware, hidden-texts, page cloaking etc will get your AdSense account terminated.

35. New visitors have higher chance to click on the ads than regular visitors, thus higher CTR (click-through rate).

36. Regular visitors have higher chance to recommend your site to others.

37. Search engines are where most of your new visitors come from. Learn a bit about Search Engine Optimization, or pay people to do it. Doing it yourself will save yourself from troubles created by not-so-honorable SEO (Search Engine Optimizer).

38. Don’t create mirrors. These are sites with different URLs but same contents. It hurts search engine ranking.

39. Its easier to create many websites with low earning than few websites with high earning.

40. Forum generally have high impressions count, but very low CTR.

This is only 40 from 100 free adsense tips.
for more tips see at : hundrettips.com

Google's AdSense is perhaps the fastest and easiest way to generate revenue from a website that contains great content.

If you'd like to see an example of Google AdSense in action, visit this page about what is the best day to purchase a cars. On the left side of the page, you'll see "Ads by Google" followed by one to five text-based ads. The ads themselves are called "Google AdWords," and the program that lets publishers display them on their site is called "Google AdSense."

Here is how Google answers the question -- what is AdSense -- in its FAQ (frequently asked questions):

" Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant, un-obtrusive Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. Because the ads are related to what your users are looking for on your site, you'll finally have a way to both monetize and enhance your content pages.

"The program is free, and combines pay-per-click and pay-per-impression advertising - meaning you get paid for valid clicks on the ads on your site or search results pages as well as impressions on your content pages. So go ahead and try this program."

Most of these optimization tips is also applied to Adsense
ad units as well so they may not be new to you:


1. Text color for the link unit should be the same as the link
color for your website.

2. Remove the ad borders and make the ad background color
matches your site. This will increase the potential for
blending and clickthroughs.

3. Above the fold placement or placement of link units near
the top of any webpage will work best for link units.

4. Avoid Ad Congestion and clutter. Link units should not be
placed too closely to other advertisements because they
may be easily overlooked by visitors. Link units work best
when placed to navigational links or as standalone units.

5. Optimize for Search Traffic. Link Units work best with
visitors from search engines and should be placed on pages
which receive the most consistent search traffic, even if you
don’t want to use them on a site wide basis.

6. Use Ad Channels. Ad channels allow you to measure the
performance of each link unit you use and allows for
comparative analysis.

7. Mirror your site link structure. One useful way to improve
your link unit click through rate is place your link unit
beneath or beside your on-site navigational links. This
conceptually makes them blend in extremely well although
they may confuse visitors.

see also at : getmoneybyads

May be we shall have knowledge, that look for money very difficult and not easy. We look for to like to look for antique goods very scarce. up to we even also must struggle to get money. But now we are unnecessary worries about this. Because business in look for that money very wide opened. We can choose business whom we can, up to we can get money considerably easy.

Online internet business, a correct choice. Because with business here's we shall get money considerably easy. although, strive people who characteristic does business. but the result very real can we see. Online internet business can produce mint of money, so that you can income by lea. but, permanent hard work must be need insides this online business.

But, in online business hard work at this internet. We not tired difficult to gets money with take outside many our sweats. Very very easy we shall get many eases in will look for money at internet. So that we shall get income very many.

Adsense internet business example so satisfy us. Real result and big payment wait menghadapan we. adsense many give big result for online business. So if we know, that is adsense favour for us to realize work at internet area considerably easy. Income that given adsense can give satisfaction for us.

Please you try to joint forces with adsense, then improve your profit then with turns on adsense at website or blog we. That way, we swiftly money entering increase that enter to into our pocket. I can not discuss result problem adsense that can make you are glad. But i shall want to describe to you that with begin business at our internet will get fast profit. Little investment or a little, but will produce big entering. So should you try this online internet business.

By Jaisy01

This Article will give you some tips how to make income from adbrite quickly

1. Never start your pricing too high. It is better to error on the low side and get advertisers hooked, because then they will be willing to pay higher prices for your inventory when the pricing increases.

2. Make sure your placement is worth buying, the popular sellers in the marketplace tend to be sites with the most premium inventory.

3. Spend some time tagging your site and giving proper demographic information.

4. In your site description provide ideas of advertisers that you think might convert well. You know your audience best.

5. AdBrite is more successful if you sell a FEW premium placements as opposed to just MANY backfill placements.

6. Hard code all placements because of the concreteness of " your ad here ". Putting AdBrite in rotation doesnt perform as well.

7. Allow a ramping period. AdBrite is a tool to help sell your own inventory, and think of it as a virtual salesperson for you. Any salesperson needs some time to gain traction. Just like an auction, the beginning price is never the final price.

8. Entice advertisers with specials. You have full control to set pricing so make occasional specials to entice advertisers.

9. Enable AdBrite auto pricing which will raise automatically as inventory sells, and lower itself as vacant inventory sits unsold.

You can find more AdBrite publishers tips and AdBrite advertisers tips at AdBriteGuide.com

Meta tags are HTML codes that are inserted into the header on a web page, after the title tag. They take a variety of forms and serve a variety of purposes, but in the context of search engine optimization when people refer to meta tags, they are usually referring to the meta description tag and the meta keywords tag.

The meta description tag and the meta keywords tag were proposed so that webmasters would have a consistent method for providing meta document data to user agents, such as search engines. Unfortunately, so many unscrupulous webmasters have abused the meta description and meta keywords tag that search engines have had to de-emphasize their importance. To learn more about the meta description tag, visit What are meta descriptions? To learn more about the meta keywords tag, visit What are meta keywords?

In addition to the well-known meta description and meta keywords tags, there are other useful meta tags, including the meta http-equiv tag, meta refresh tag, the meta robots tag, the meta copyright tag, and the meta author tag, among others. These tags are used to instruct user agents such as web browsers and search engine spiders on a variety of topics.

When a business decides to market a product, the location of the retail outlet can be a deciding factor in the success or failure of the business. No matter how good your product, price, or brand, if you were to set up shop in the middle of the Sahara Desert, you would undoubtedly fail.

On the flip side of that coin, many businesses prosper even with poor brands and uncompetitive pricing and second rate products simply because they have set up shop in a high traffic area.

Search engine optimization is location. And like they say in retail business, it’s all about location, location, location.


One Community

How many booksellers can one U.S. city sustain? In New York City alone, there are thousands. All those booksellers can co-exist because, for the most part, each targets a relatively small demographic area - the immediate vicinity of the retail location.

When you go online, however, you are entering one geographic location. It’s a city called the Internet. And just like in the offline world, location matters. But there’s one big difference: Only ten websites can inhabit the top ten spots in the search results.

For years now, many booksellers have tried to compete with Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. But when you search for Books, you see Amazon in the first place, and Barnes and Noble second. Why would any consumer feel the need to go beyond that?

If your website isn’t in the top of the search results, for all intents and purposes you do not exist online. It is as if you had set up shop in the middle of the Sahara Desert.


The Ideal Location

Want a retail spot in the extremely high traffic Times Square are of New York? It’ll set you back $50 to $60 per square foot. Yet many retailers find that it is worth every penny.

Effective search engine placement is not cheap. But it is often worth every penny and more to get your website the kind of traffic that even those Times Square retailers would envy.


In Summary

Search engine placement is not the end-all, be-all of the dot com business model. You’ll still need to build a brand that consumers can trust, along with a product that consumers need, but it is the first step. Without location, you’re demographic simply doesn’t exist.

posting by Getmoney

Content yet to come Search Engine Submission constitutes a major part of the search engine optimization process. There are some aspects that need to be ensured before you proceed with submitting your site. Here is a step by step guide:

* Design your site
* Research the keywords
* Edit the Meta tags
* Edit the page content
* Increase the link popularity score

Once you are satisfied with the performance you can go for search engine submission.

It is also recommended that submission be done by hand, or manually. A number of software that offer automatic Search Engine Submission, but manual submission is still advisable. Some major search engines openly
state that they do not approve automatic submission, while others penalize automated submitters.

Submit your web pages individually when it comes to search engine submission and registration. Avoid submitting all the pages in a single day. You can submit 3-5 web pages per day but ideally, you should restrict yourself to one page daily and not more than twice in a week.

Manual submission may be time-consuming, but treating this time as an investment may make you feel better. A website or an online business takes several weeks to be constructed so what harm in investing a few more minutes to submit it to the search engines by hand? In short, manual submission to the search engines ensures that you can't go wrong.

POSTED BY www.synapseinteractive.com

Search engines use multiple databases to contain the data which is used to determine results when a search query is conducted.

As new information is added to a database, that information is transferred to all the databases. It takes time though for the information to synchronize throughout all the databases.

Meanwhile, new information continues to be collected. This means that search engine results are in a constant state of updating.

When you conduct a search, which database you access is automatically decided by the search engine you used and can vary with every search query. Because of this, you will see very natural fluctuations in those results on a day to day basis.

Many times site owners will ask why their own placement in the results vary if they have not made any changes. Although YOU may not have made changes, OTHER site owners competing for high placement in the results may have.

Any number of things can and often do contribute to these natural fluctuations, including your site being temporarily unavailable when the search engine spiders last crawled your site. This type of fluctuation will correct itself during the next crawl.

Since search engines collect their data by following links throughout the net, the time it takes for this to happen depends solely on how many incoming links you have pointing to your site to bring those search engine spiders back rapidly.

One of the most serious mistakes I see made by site owners is suddenly making changes to their site based on normal fluctuations in the search engine results.

Even when those fluctuations are major, any changes you make must be done with extreme caution.

1. Verify that you are using ethical search engine optimization techniques that fall well within the quality guidelines set out by the various search engines.

2. Wait one full week before making any changes beyond correcting violations to quality guidelines.

3. Review the page for any weaknesses in basic SEO Techniques.

• Are you using effective web page titles ?
• Do you have tons of quality content on every page?
• Do you have sufficient incoming links pointing to the page?

Always remember that it is NOT the day to day results in the search engines that will have an impact on the ultimate success of your website, but rather the overall results that happen over time.

Explaining the difference between a minor fluctuation and a major fluctuation is almost impossible, because this will be different for every site and search phrase. You will learn from experience and from watching your results over time.

You may have one phrase that moves around continually within the top 10 from day to day, but always remains within a certain range of results. These are considered normal variations.

If a page suddenly disappeared from the results all together, then it still depends on the specific situation. If it is a very new page, it may be simply a matter of allowing the databases to synchronize. The page may have been down when the search engines crawled it.

I personally have one page that loves to disappear from the top 10 search results about once a month for two days.

Where does it go?

I have no idea, but it happens to be competing with 266 million other sites for the phrase so any number of variables may be involved.

The point I am trying to get across is that what may be totally within the norm for one of my pages, may be totally out of the norm for one of yours.

You must focus on the search results over time, rather than day to day fluctuations.

Now, if I have a page suddenly begin a downhill trend (or disappears) in the search results and that trend continues, this may suggest a major fluctuation. This is where you take the steps outlined in the article above.

Your initial reaction is to first verify that you are NOT using any unethical methods of search engine optimization. Sometimes, little by little a webmaster may push way too close to a line because they have gotten away with it in the past or because they THINK it is okay because they see others doing it.

They do this even though I have told them it was a definite violation.

If this is not the issue, you should take absolutely no action for a minimum of one full week.

If that week passes and you do not see the page return to what has been normal for it in the past, then you need to look at the records you keep for the page.

Have you made any major changes recently?

Then continue on to take the page through a checklist. Are there areas that should be stronger but you have put it off because the page was getting decent results? Do you have some broken links in your navigation or on your site map?

Once you have completed all of the above from a very OBJECTIVE standpoint, then you must accept that other sites are simply kicking your butt right now and it is time to go back to work. If all the “on page” techniques are solid, then you likely no longer have enough incoming anchor text links.

People love to tell me that the number of incoming links to their site has not changed, so that cannot be it. This is absolutely false. Your incoming links may not have changed at all, but your competition’s may have doubled!

For what it is worth, I am a major advocate of NOT keeping all of your eggs in one basket. This is exactly why I train people to organize their site and categories in the manner that I do. This keeps any single page from having a ton of power over the overall results of a site. The result is that if a single page or two is struggling, it does not have a noticeable impact on your net income.

This was a very long version of telling you to keep doing what you know is right. Follow the lessons step by step, and it all works out in the end.

Search engines use multiple databases to contain the data which is used to determine results when a search query is conducted.

As new information is added to a database, that information is transferred to all the databases. It takes time though for the information to synchronize throughout all the databases.

Meanwhile, new information continues to be collected. This means that search engine results are in a constant state of updating.

When you conduct a search, which database you access is automatically decided by the search engine you used and can vary with every search query. Because of this, you will see very natural fluctuations in those results on a day to day basis.

Many times site owners will ask why their own placement in the results vary if they have not made any changes. Although YOU may not have made changes, OTHER site owners competing for high placement in the results may have.

Any number of things can and often do contribute to these natural fluctuations, including your site being temporarily unavailable when the search engine spiders last crawled your site. This type of fluctuation will correct itself during the next crawl.

Since search engines collect their data by following links throughout the net, the time it takes for this to happen depends solely on how many incoming links you have pointing to your site to bring those search engine spiders back rapidly.

One of the most serious mistakes I see made by site owners is suddenly making changes to their site based on normal fluctuations in the search engine results.

Even when those fluctuations are major, any changes you make must be done with extreme caution.

1. Verify that you are using ethical search engine optimization techniques that fall well within the quality guidelines set out by the various search engines.

2. Wait one full week before making any changes beyond correcting violations to quality guidelines.

3. Review the page for any weaknesses in basic SEO Techniques.

• Are you using effective web page titles ?
• Do you have tons of quality content on every page?
• Do you have sufficient incoming links pointing to the page?

Always remember that it is NOT the day to day results in the search engines that will have an impact on the ultimate success of your website, but rather the overall results that happen over time.

Explaining the difference between a minor fluctuation and a major fluctuation is almost impossible, because this will be different for every site and search phrase. You will learn from experience and from watching your results over time.

You may have one phrase that moves around continually within the top 10 from day to day, but always remains within a certain range of results. These are considered normal variations.

If a page suddenly disappeared from the results all together, then it still depends on the specific situation. If it is a very new page, it may be simply a matter of allowing the databases to synchronize. The page may have been down when the search engines crawled it.

I personally have one page that loves to disappear from the top 10 search results about once a month for two days.

Where does it go?

I have no idea, but it happens to be competing with 266 million other sites for the phrase so any number of variables may be involved.

The point I am trying to get across is that what may be totally within the norm for one of my pages, may be totally out of the norm for one of yours.

You must focus on the search results over time, rather than day to day fluctuations.

Now, if I have a page suddenly begin a downhill trend (or disappears) in the search results and that trend continues, this may suggest a major fluctuation. This is where you take the steps outlined in the article above.

Your initial reaction is to first verify that you are NOT using any unethical methods of search engine optimization. Sometimes, little by little a webmaster may push way too close to a line because they have gotten away with it in the past or because they THINK it is okay because they see others doing it.

They do this even though I have told them it was a definite violation.

If this is not the issue, you should take absolutely no action for a minimum of one full week.

If that week passes and you do not see the page return to what has been normal for it in the past, then you need to look at the records you keep for the page.

Have you made any major changes recently?

Then continue on to take the page through a checklist. Are there areas that should be stronger but you have put it off because the page was getting decent results? Do you have some broken links in your navigation or on your site map?

Once you have completed all of the above from a very OBJECTIVE standpoint, then you must accept that other sites are simply kicking your butt right now and it is time to go back to work. If all the “on page” techniques are solid, then you likely no longer have enough incoming anchor text links.

People love to tell me that the number of incoming links to their site has not changed, so that cannot be it. This is absolutely false. Your incoming links may not have changed at all, but your competition’s may have doubled!

For what it is worth, I am a major advocate of NOT keeping all of your eggs in one basket. This is exactly why I train people to organize their site and categories in the manner that I do. This keeps any single page from having a ton of power over the overall results of a site. The result is that if a single page or two is struggling, it does not have a noticeable impact on your net income.

This was a very long version of telling you to keep doing what you know is right. Follow the lessons step by step, and it all works out in the end.

FREQUENT SEO QUESTIONS:

• Why is my page not in the top 10 for . . . ?

• Why are other websites listed before mine?

• Why am I doing well in Yahoo but poorly in Google?

• Why was I doing well before the last major updates, but am nowhere to be found now?

ANSWER:

Because the search engines believe the pages listed above yours are more relevant to the search query than yours is.

Sorry folks. That is all there is to it.

No secrets or tricks will change this answer.

You have to develop a page that the search engines view as 100% relevant to the search query. The best way I have found to accomplish this is by using ALL of the methods I teach you.

You have to focus on the entire recipe, using all of the lessons.

If you try to depend on single methods to work your way to the top, changes in search engine algorithms will give you unpredictable results. You may be in the top 10 one day, and not the next. In other words, don’t keep all of your eggs in one basket.

By concentrating on the whole picture you also create results that are more consistent from search engine to search engine.

There are sites that try to get away with not concentrating on the whole picture. It can even work for a brief time. It is not something you can depend on or something you can expect to last.

It is important to remember that you are not the only one working on improving your page for a specific key phrase. While you are busy working on yours, others are working on theirs too. You may have done well for a term previously, but if you take short cuts and do not concentrate on the entire picture, others will pass you up.

It all comes back to this statement.

The search engines list the results in the exact order of their perceived relevance to the search query.

If you start with the very first class lesson and work through them, one by one, you will receive the results you are hoping for.

It is soooooo easy to THINK you are following all the steps to Effective SEO, even if you are not.

If you get in too big a hurry and try to accomplish everything overnight you will miss VITAL steps to building a successful business.

Slow down and take things at a pace that is comfortable for YOU.

Make a list and work through it STEP BY STEP!

Slowly over time, we start to leave something small out here and there. Before we know it, we have left out so many small things that we are no longer following the steps needed to effectively optimize are sites for top placement.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. You absolutely must make a checklist and follow it STEP BY STEP for every page you want to optimize for the search engines.

Don’t trust that you understand each lesson. Go back and read them again.

If you SKIM the articles, you will miss VALUABLE INFORMATION!

Here is a tip: some people find reading the lessons aloud forces them to actually READ every word instead of skimming.

from: http://www.website-development-training.com

If you spend any time visiting the SEO forums, you will always find multiple discussions about the Importance of Incoming Links to search engine optimization. It seems everyone is looking for the quickest and easiest ways to Improve Link Popularity and their positions in the search results.

When it comes down to it, there is no SINGLE magical method that will give you the results you are looking for overnight. Developing a lasting approach to your Website Linking Strategies is a matter of good old-fashioned work.

We have built a small directory of our Search Engine Optimization Articles that may help a few people with some solid methods of developing a site that will be successful in the search engines.

from : http://www.website-development-training.com

Learn the SEO lingo! This search engine optimization glossary will take the scary out of SEM-speak, helping you navigate the SEO minefield successfully.

Benefit statement
Benefit statements express how your company's product or service solves an immediate need and clarifies a specific unique sales proposition. These statements are written in a "What's in it for me?" fashion where company features are immediately linked to client benefits. Benefit statements may be different for different target groups, depending on their motivations. Typical benefit statements are linked to such bottom-line motivators as: saving time, saving or making more money, helping someone be more attractive to the opposite sex, streamlining operations, gaining new clients, gaining an industry niche or power, et cetera.

Brochureware
Brochureware is a negative term that denotes a print brochure being uploaded, without revision, as Web page text. Brochureware is always counterproductive and should be avoided at all costs. It doesn't take into account the interactivity of Web copy, nor is it typically written in a user-centric manner. Brochureware sites tend to see poor search engine positioning until the pages are rewritten for Web conversions.

Directory
Directories are compiled lists of sites, categorized and organized by topic. Each directory listing contains short, descriptive information about the site. Unlike spidering search engines (like Google), directories are compiled by human editors who approve listings. The human-involved process obtaining directories listings is far different than with obtaining listings in spider-built search indexes or paid search-advertising engines. In some cases, pay for inclusion is offered for expedited listings in directories such as Yahoo! and LookSmart. The Open Directory Project, on the other hand, is meant to always be free. Strong directory listings are an excellent way your company can increase its link popularity and its Google PageRank. However, a poorly written listing that is submitted to Yahoo! (and subsequently edited or run with ineffective writing or keyword research) can negatively influence a search marketing campaign.

Call-to-action link
Otherwise known as a hyperlink. Call-to-action links in Internet marketing campaigns guide the reader to a new action step. Call-to-action hyperlinks could lead a prospect to a new Web page, an email form, a text section within a page or a shopping cart. Correctly written, call-to-action links increase micro-conversion rates and can affect keyphrase relevancy.

Conversion rates
Conversion rates are distinct measurements that determine how many of your prospects take your preferred action step. Typically, micro-conversions (for instance, reading different pages on your site, or signing up for a newsletter) lead to your main conversion step (making a purchase, or contacting you for more information).

Description tag
The description tag is Meta data that appears if you right click your mouse and click "View Source" on any Web page. This data is written like a marketing statement and should clearly communicate the purpose of the page. Ideally, the description tag should be around 170 characters (with spaces). Depending on the engine, additional characters over 170 may be truncated. The description is visible on the SERP with engines that support this tag (some search engines, like Google, use a copy snippet for the description). For instance, the description tag for this page appears like this:

meta name="description" content="Learn the SEO lingo! This search engine optimization glossary will take the scary out of SEM-speak. Need more help? Contact SuccessWorks today for personalized assistance." ( this meda tag is typed without <>)

(This description has 173 characters, including spaces.)

Headline
A headline is a quick-scan way customers can instantly learn your company's main benefits (for instance, "Custom auto parts sale. Free shipping."). Headlines are typically in bolded text, and appear at the top of a Web page. Headlines and subheadlines (see below) are incredibly important for usability; as online readers scan, not read, headlines make the scanning process easier. Further, in code, headlines can be inscribed using HTML heading tags that can influence positioning.

Indexability
Otherwise known as spiderability. Indexability refers to if a site can be indexed - or recorded - by a search engine spider. If a site is not indexable, or if a site has reduced indexability, positioning will suffer.

Hyperlink
A blue, underlined word or phrase that, when clicked upon, takes users to another Web page, or section within a Web page. Hyperlinks are also known as call-to-action links (see above).

Keyword (or key word)
A single word (like travel) prospects would type into a search query box to find products and services like yours. Although keyphrases contain individual keywords, optimizing for keywords is not recommended.

Keywords tag
The keywords tag is Meta data that appears if you right click your mouse and click "View Source" on any Web page. Although this tag is not supported in many engines (this is not true with some Trusted Feed campaigns), the keywords tag is a place to highlight your keyphrases and include misspellings. This data is written like a marketing statement and should clearly communicate the purpose of the page. Ideally, the description tag should be no more than 170 characters (with spaces). For instance, the keywords tag for this page appears like this:

meta name="keywords" content="search engine optimization, Internet marketing, XML feed, conversion rates, landing page"( this meda tag is typed without <>)

Keyphrase (or key phrase; also known as a keyword phrase)
A two- or more-word phrase (like Florida travel) prospects would type into a search query box to find products and services like yours.

Landing page
Landing pages are pages that users would click through to from a PPC campaign or XML feed (that is, people "land" on a particular page as a result of search marketing efforts). For best results, these pages are highly targeted for the reader and specific to the PPC ad or feed description (for instance, if a PPC ad advertises a coat sale, sending prospects to the company home page would invoke frustrations and decrease conversions). Rewriting landing pages is one of the easiest ways companies can increase their conversion rates.

Link exchange
A link exchange Internet marketing campaign is the process of exchanging hyperlinks with a quality site that is somehow related to a company's product or service. For instance, a public relations agency may link to a search engine positioning firm's article on "PR and SEO marketing." The SEO may then include a link on their site listing the public relations company. Good link exchange vendors can increase a company's PageRank and increase the number of targeted visitors. Poor link exchanges (think $99 "link farms" where a company promises to link your site to thousands of others) can actually harm site positioning.

SERP
The SERP is otherwise known as the Search Engines Results Page. This is the page that users see after typing their search query into an engine. Since conversion starts at the SERP, it is an important job of the search marketer to obtain strong call-to-action listings that entice the click.

SEO (or SEM)
A form of online marketing, search engine optimization (or search engine marketing) is the process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. Successful search marketing helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.

Subheadline
Like headlines, subheadlines provide quick-scan benefits and instant information. Subheadlines typically begin inner paragraphs, highlighting the following paragraph's main points and benefits. Subheadlines, like headlines, can also be inscribed using HTML Heading tags. When keyphrases appear in the subheadline, positioning for those keyphrases may be improved.

Title
Search engine optimization and Internet marketing glossary The Title tag is Meta data that appears if you right click your mouse and click "View Source" on any Web page. It is extremely important that every Title tag contains well-researched keyphrases and is written in a way that entices a user to click thru from the SERP. Ideally, the Title tag should be around 50 characters (with spaces). More characters are acceptable, but the Title may be truncated if it's over 50 characters. The Title tag is a crucial part of your search marketing campaign - and every page should have its own Title tag. For instance, the Title tag for this page is: (58 characters, with spaces.)

Trusted feed (see XML feed)
Spider-built search engines sometimes cannot crawl a Website even though they try and try. Indexing is important to large content providers such as Amazon.com and IBM, but the same problems that affect indexing with smaller sites can be magnified in large, complex sites such as these. To resolve these issues, all major spider-built search indexes offer a fee-based custom crawl service to large content providers. Many of these search engines have taken the service to the streets by partnering with vendors who often operate their own spiders. The vendors automate the crawling process for the engine and feed the data directly into the index entirely on the basis of trust. Beware, not all vendors are alike and some have unsavory pasts.

Search Engine Result Page
The search engine results page (SERP) is the first page searchers see when they've entered their query into the search box. This page lists results of the searcher's query, sorted in terms of relevancy. Gaining a page one or two SERP listing is highly desirable for businesses targeting B2B and/or B2C sales.

SERP
See Search Engine Results Page

Search engine optimization writing
Search engine optimization writing is specialized copywriting that entails weaving keywords and keyphrases into marketing or informational copy. The purpose of search engine optimization copywriting is to gain prime positioning for the desired keyphrases, as well as increase page conversion rates.

Spam
Spam is either a shelved potted meat product or an Internet term for unsolicited commercial email. In the case of search marketing, search engines had to put up their guard against overzealous search marketers who bombarded them with massive daily submissions and loaded their pages with keyword junk. These pages are often derided as pollution and described as spammy by search engine "spam police" who remove and blacklist all the spam they find from their indexes. Spam is the excessive use of any single "trick" meant to improve positioning in Internet search engines.

Spidering search engines
A spidering search engine (Google for example) is one that uses machines to fetch Websites and record its pages. The database of over 2 billion Web pages in Google's search index was gathered together using Google machines and GoogleBot (Google's so-called "spider" or Web crawler technology).

Pay for inclusion (PFI)
Pay-for-Inclusion services are designed for Webmasters that are having trouble getting pages listed in spider-based search engines. A main benefit of PFI is fast respidering (every 48 hours or so), giving site owners and Webmasters instant positioning feedback and the ability to change content frequently. Also, site owners can submit deep-linked pages and be guaranteed that the URL will be included.
The typical PFI program is an annual URL-based subscription with regular refresh cycles and click-based reporting. These programs are highly effective and potent for use in conjunction with seasonal campaign pages.

Pay per Click (PPC)
Pay per Click is a type of search marketing where advertisers pay a set amount every time their ad is clicked by a prospect (otherwise known as a click thru).
Some search engines, such as Overture, specialize in this type of advertising medium, although pay per click is not limited solely to pay-per-click engines. For instance, Looksmart, a directory, recently changed its business model to pay per click. Also, XML trusted feeds through Inktomi and Fast are sold at a per-click basis.

PPC
See Pay per Click

Usability
Quite simply, usability is making your site easy for your customers to find the exact information they need when they need it. Anything that makes the process slower (like Flash animation served to a dial-up customer) inhibits usability. Conversely, easy, intuitive navigation and strong, informative text enhance usability.

XML feed
(see trusted feed)

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your web pages and getting links into your site in order to achieve the highest search engine rankings possible for your keywords/phrases.

Is SEO a bad thing?

No, not at all. Ethical SEO isn't a tool used to "trick" the search engines into ranking your pages higher than they deserve to be ranked.

Ethical SEO is simply a way to help your pages rank well compared to pages of similar quality and relevancy, making them easier for visitors to find. It also makes the search engine results for your pages' keywords better for the search engine's users.

Of course unethical SEO also exists. Tactics such as using hidden text, keyword spamming, participation in link farms, etc. is bad for the search engines because they skew the search results and make them less relevant to the user's query.

The search engines don't like this so they penalize (or even ban) sites that use them whenever they catch them.

Do I really need to optimize my site for the search engines?

Absolutely! The old adage "If I build it they will come" certainly doesn't apply to web pages. You can have the very best, most professional looking website in the world, but if nobody finds it it's useless.

The use of ethical and effective SEO techniques will help potential visitors find your web pages when they do a web search on your relevant keywords/phrases. In a nutshell, your pages will no longer be many pages down in the search engine results pages (SERPS). They might even end up on the first page!

How do I go about optimizing my website?

There are many ethical SEO professionals offering their services on the web, but if you have the time, desire, and ability, you can perform your own SEO services after reading and studying the free SEO information and tutorials that are widely available on the Internet.

You can get started with our very own highly popular
(and free) Webmaster SEO Toolkit.