The Google search engine has risen to prominence because they made it fast with an uncluttered interface, and kept the search results relevant. With the introduction of paid PPC advertising, they have created an economic boom on the internet that allows anyone with a website to participate.
Without any gimmicks, you can have a high ranking page in Google, just by following a few prudent design rules and creating relevant content based on your keyword research. In this article we'll show you an example of how we did it with one of our websites, Software For Homes.
I created the Software For Homes website (http://SoftwareForHomes.com) at the turn of the century to demonstrate how easy and inexpensive it is to automate your own home, without running any wires, using the powerful X10 software and control systems.
I used to be a video technician back in the late 60's, and I dove into the HDTV home theater environment a few years later, adding a section to the Software For Homes website about my personal experience setting up a home theater.
Note: A First Class Education on How Search Engines Work:
Google Adsense and Adwords are not necessarily the best way to make money on the net. The payout per click has dropped dramatically, and all their strategies are designed to get you to pay more money for Adwords campaigns. There are better affiliate programs that pay much higher, and free blogging is an excellent way to generate an income online. We highly recommend Rob Benwell's ebook 'Blogging to the Bank'. His 7 step blueprint will show you step by step exactly how to do it - it's worth every penny and will save you countless hours of trial and error. We've used it and it works; we recovered our investment in 2 days! Got an existing website? Drive traffic to it with your blogs ... more info at:
http://aerohost.com/google-search-engine-marketing.htm
Content is King for Search Engines
Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN love fresh, original content and my best advice is to choose a topic for your new website or page that you have specific interests in. You'll always produce a better, more interesting article if it's a subject that you can write about with some passion.
Don't duplicate or copy other work - make it as original as you can. There are plenty of pre-packaged websites available online that can be purchased inexpensively, but be prepared to rework them substantially if you go this route, as search engines don't like duplicate content. Often, it's just as much work to modify an existing site as it is to simply write your own - and your own copy will always do better.
You should also consider personalizing your pages, so that your audience knows there is a real person behind the website. Search engines won't rank your site differently around this point, but your readers will likely appreciate it more. Ultimately, you'll get more links from other sites, which will improve your search engine standing.
Keyword Research is Extremely Important
I can't overemphasize this point! Once you have chosen your topic, the very first thing to do is make a list of the top keywords relating to internet searches around that particular topic. Then, use that list to create EVERYTHING associated with your website or page, including:
- domain name (if it's a new website)
- folder and file names (put keywords in there)
- Title, Description and Keyword meta tags
- Pix file names, ALT tags (mytopic.jpg NOT logo.jpg)
- Page header 'H' tags and text content
Don't fly blind with guesswork on this - it is so very critical, and I highly recommend you get a keyword analyzer and research tool, such as the Keywords Analyzer program that we use (see the Software Download section at http://Aerohost.com).
MSN has the fastest index update these days, especially if you are creating a new website, so be sure to tell them about your new page or site with this link:
MSN Submit Page
Page Structure is Critical
Try and keep your website as simple and uncluttered as possible - avoid using frames if you can, and use a text based menu system (image scripts don't get indexed) when possible. We use the XSitePro authoring program as it creates very search engine friendly web pages. Here are some page structure guidelines:
Put your primary keywords into the domain name and page filenames.
Put your primary keywords into the 'Title' tag, make it about 7 words.
Work the same keywords into the 'Description' tag, about 25 words.
Insert the main keywords and keyword phrases into the tag, about 10 to 20 words.
Insert your header logo, give it a file name with the keywords in it (NOT something like 'logo.jpg')
Edit the 'Alt' tag of the header logo so that it contains your keyword phrases.
Change the 'H1' header tag under the logo so that it contains your keywords
Write the main body of text, making sure you start off with your keywords at the beginning. Don't repeat them more than once or twice within the main body of text, around 500 words should be fine. Be sure to factor in the space required for ad insertion in your page design. Use section headers like H2, H3
Insert some pictures into the text body and use keywords in the file name and 'Alt' tag.
Get Powerful Reporting and Statistics for your Site
There's not much point doing all this if you can't monitor your progress and test the results of different optimization techniques. With our sophisticated live statistics system, you can see real-time information about your visitors, allowing you to optimize your 'Internet presence' with an informed search engine strategy. See statistics such as:
-Visitor location and exact search phrase keywords.
-What they are looking at and how long they stayed.
You just listed your site with Google and you want to see the impact? Just ran an autoresponder campaign? Or perhaps you launched a Google AdWords campaign to generate instant high volume traffic? Watch the curve climb immediately with Live Stats. Switch to monthly, weekly and daily graphs to see more detail - track all data, including unique visitor sessions as per graph sample above. Say goodbye to cryptic log files.
Spend Some Money on Information and Sound Advice
If you're new to PPC advertising, the best primer on Google AdWords I've seen is by Perry Marshall. He shows how to use AdWords to great advantage, well worth the money! The Definitive Guide - 35 examples, 8 industries & fast-start toolkit. If you're going to buy some expert help, these folks are the best at explaining exactly how to maximize results with AdWords and Adsense.
Will you make money? Yes, you actually can. Realistically, it probably won't be much until you get good at it, but like anything else, practice makes perfect. At first, I made maybe $50 per month with the Software For Homes website, but that quickly increased and these days it generates about $1,500 to $2,000 per month.
Note: Google Adsense and Adwords are not necessarily the best way to make money on the net. The payout per click has dropped dramatically, and all their strategies are designed to get you to pay more money for Adwords campaigns. There are better affiliate programs that pay much higher, and free blogging is an excellent way to generate an income online. We highly recommend Rob Benwell's ebook 'Blogging to the Bank'. His 7 step blueprint will show you step by step exactly how to do it - it's worth every penny and will save you countless hours of trial and error. I've used it and it works! More info:
