SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Optimize Your Website

Page Rank is Google's way of giving a specific value to how popular your website is. It is based on the number of "votes" other websites cast for your website. A "vote" is simply when another website places a link on their website that is pointing to your website. Generally, the more "votes" or links you have pointing to your website, the higher your Page Rank (PR) will be. Page Rank is 1 of the many factors that Google takes into account when ranking websites.

If you're anything like me, you've probably created a brand new website, submitted it to a few search engines and hoped that people would mysteriously show up at your site and buy whatever it is you were selling. After a couple of weeks go by and only a few stray people show up at your website, you decide to try and "optimize" your website around your main keyword in hopes that you just might rank well in 1 of the millions of search engines. Another couple of weeks go by and still no luck. At this point you probably give up and decide to either build another website around a different target market or just lose all hope and quit. Well, news flash, as you've probably figured out by now, this is not the way to go about doing things, so let me give you a specific example of what your very first steps MUST be when creating any website.

There were two types of search engine optimization:

1. Onpage Optimization
2. Offpage Optimization

Offpage optimization is THE most important aspect of ranking well in ANY search engine, period. It's critical you know this. For offpage optimization...

• You must have links pointing to your website.
• These links must include your main keywords in the "anchor text".
• It's best to get links from the exact same websites that the top ranked websites have their links on.
• Try to get links from as many different IP Addresses as possible.
• It's best to have close to the same % of links containing the specific keyword you're trying to rank well for, as the top ranked websites.
• You can write articles and submit them to websites. Include a link to your website in the footer of your article.

Onpage optimization is still important, but just not nearly as important as offpage
optimization. You should do both.

• Include your keywords in your page title
• Use the '|' symbol to separate words
• Use only your main keywords. Don't use filler words. The '|' character will act as
  a filler
• Use header tags
  
• Bold, italicize, and underline some keywords
• Place your main keyword at the beginning and end of your webpage
• Include your keyword in the copyright footer of your webpage
• Use image tags and include your keyword, plus the word "image" or
  "graphic" etc.

That's the basics of SEO that you MUST do to rank well.

By Brad Callen