3 Deadly Search Engine
Marketing Sins
By: John Gergye
My inbox this week provided
glaring examples of three
all too common rookie search
engine marketing mistakes.
What you could call three
deadly search engine
marketing sins. Starting
with
===> Inadequate Keyword
Research
Hey! If you’re going to
spend hours developing a web
site, isn’t it smart to
invest some time to insure
you’re focusing on the most
traffic laden keywords?
Especially when typically
the plural form of a keyword
phrase generates way more
traffic than the singular
form. For example "dog
dishes" rather than "dog
dish".
Yet just this week I was
asked to look at a site that
had focused on the singular
form. Evidently the owner
hadn’t bothered to do any
digging to make sure that
was their best keyword move.
Look, you’ll never know for
sure unless you research it.
Besides, you can access
Wordtracker, the tool of
choice for what? a measly $7
a day.
Even better here’s a quick
and dirty way to get the
most out of that day.
Search for your target
keyword in Google.
Visit the top ranking sites.
Use the "View Source"
feature of Internet Explorer
to check out the keyword
meta tag of each site.
You're looking for a site
listing lots of keywords
there. Do this with each of
the top listings or until
you find one stuffed to the
gills with keywords. Ah-ha!
There’s your starting point
for your list of likely
keyword phrases.
Repeat with a couple of
other sites and you’ll soon
have a long list of
candidates to check out in
Wordtracker.
Enhance your list further
using this tool:
http://www.promoteindia.com/keywordtool-beta.htm.
It will give you more
keyword ideas from Google
and Overture.
Now you’re ready for
Wordtracker.
Once you’ve compiled your
Wordtracker results, you
could simply sort by KEI and
then by searches per day.
That gives you the strongest
keywords with the most
searches. (And yes, I
realize KEI assumes all
search engine listings are
of equal value. But I did
say this was "quick and
dirty" didn't I? However if
you want another approach
that improves on KEI there’s
a spreadsheet available at
http://www.seo-works.com/seo-resources/keyword-effectiveness-rank.html)
Anyway, once you're sorted
your keywords in some way to
highlight the most
profitable, simply take the
top 25 on the list and
create content for those
first. No, not every one
will be a natural born
traffic magnet. But enough
of them will be to get the
ball rolling.
Repeat with the next 25.
Don’t stop until you have at
least 100 pages of hot
content.
Remember, two or three word
keyword phrases are usually
your best bets. And I really
like keyword phrases that
are actually several keyword
phrases in one. For example
"irish setter dog dishes"
gives "irish setter", "irish
setter dog", "dog", "dog
dishes", "setter dog
dishes".
===> Site Bloat
Twice this week I was asked
to look at sites that would
have let me read War and
Peace while waiting for them
to come up. And no visitor
is going to have a copy of
that handy.
To avoid losing any precious
visitors lose the huge
graphics. One of the sites
had a graphic 501K in size!
No wonder it took nearly two
minutes to load up on a 56K
modem.
Then too lose the Flash -
unless you have a very good
reason for using it. Even
then lose the Flash.
If you’re wondering how your
site's download time
measures up test it here:
http://www.netmechanic.com/toolbox/html-code.htm
It won’t cost anything to
find out. But a slow loading
site can cost you plenty.
Because as the Net Mechanics
follow up reports says, it's
a good idea to keep your
page load times under about
12 seconds on a 28.8 modem.
Otherwise your visitors will
be wearing out the back
button trying to escape.
===> Too Few Links
Did you know links can
account for up to 80% of
your success with Google?
Yet someone else complained
to me about how much work it
took to get them.
Well doh! Ever think that
maybe that’s why (in part)
Google assigns so much value
to links? Because you can’t
quite as easily game links
as you can on page content?
Meaning you actually have to
work to get links. Both by
having link worthy content
and by actively seeking them
out on a regular basis.
It’s a given that most
niches require you have a
healthy collection of links
to be competitive. Yet if
you’re lucky enough to be in
a niche that doesn’t, but
you do, then you can easily
dominate those rankings.
Anyway in a nutshell you can
easily avoid these three
search engine sins. Do your
keyword homework. Keep your
pages on a strict diet. And
don't forget link up with as
many other quality sites as
you can.
Do all that and you’re well
on your way to search engine
success. Ignore this advice
and you’re, well you know,
your Google goose is
probably cooked. Leaving you
perpetually stuck in Google
purgatory.
Copyright 2004 John Gergye
John Gergye shares more
ideas like this in his just
updated eBook "Traffic From
Google in 35 Days". Find out
more here:
http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/j/tfg35cl.shtml
Or test your search engine
IQ by taking his seo quiz
http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/search-engine-quiz.shtml
and get the free special
report "Coming Out On Top"