Traffic Generation Simplified [Part 1] – SEO and Using Keywords

One of the worries that most people have when trying to make an income on the internet is traffic generation. I recieve many letters asking for help in this area. It is all well and good to set up websites, blogs, membership sites etc. but, if no one sees them it will all be for nothing. You need traffic, especially targeted traffic. Targeted traffic is what will bring in the sales and lead to online success.

I have decided to do a series of posts simplifying Traffic Generation and highlighting what you should be doing.

Let me point out first, there is no one automatic, push button software that will provide all your traffic needs, no matter what claims are made. There are however various methods and software that will help you put into place systems to save you time and and automate various traffic generation strategies in the future.

This post will focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Seo is one of the most basic methods for attracting free traffic to your website and a standard in the online marketing world.

Basically, it means making your website more accessible by the search engines. When you begin optimizing your websites you should consider the three major search engines Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Out of these three, Google is the most popular. Google is a context based search engine (which means it ranks content-rich websites higher than others).

Here are some basic methods that you can use to improve you Google Page Rank:

- Google ranks webpage’s is based on the number of popular keywords that a page contains. So you need to research good keywords and use them in your content.

- Besides keywords, the overall content matters as well. There must be at least 250 words of content on a webpage for it to even be considered by Google.

- The content on your site needs to be regularly updated. Google is looking for content that provides value to the reader. Content that keeps changing is seen as dynamic content that the visitor would like.

Virtually all methods of traffic generation are based on basic SEO methods. Search engines like Google keep a close eye on the popularity of websites. If a website is visited more, it means it contains value and that is how you want your site to be seen.

Let take a closer look at keywords and in particular, keyword research…

Keywords are the words and phrases people search for when they visit a search engine. But, how do you find the right keywords? Follow these 2 steps:

Step 1 – Gather Your Keywords

Use a keyword tool to gather a large number of keywords in your particular niche.

The Google Keyword Tool is free and returns results directly from Google’s own internal database of searches people have performed.

http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Start with a seed keyword like “blogging”. This will return keywords such as:

blogging websites
how to blog
what is blogging
make money blogging

For this search google returns 800 results. You can go further by taking some of the keywords it returns and using those as seed keywords to find more.

If your niche is small you will only want to focus on a small amount of keywords. On the other hand, if you want to create a large authority site you will want to collect thousands of keywords.

Step 2 – Analyze Your Keywords

Assessing your keywords for traffic and competition is very important. If keywords are too competitive or don’t get enough searches, then you are wasting your time.
To choose the best keywords there are 3 things you need to look at:

*Global Monthly Searches – Google will tell you the approximate amount of searches received by each word or phrase. It is best to use keywords that return more than 1,000 searches a month. For example:

best blogging software (This returns 5400 global monthly searches)

*How Many Google Pages Use The Keywords – You need to find out how many people are using each keyword phrase on their pages. This is done by entering the keyword into Google Search in quotes. This will tell you how many other pages contain that exact phrase. Use phrases that return no more than 30,000 pages. Using the same example above:

“best software for blogging” (This returns 953 results)

*How Many Competitors Use the Keyword Phrase In Their Title – Google gives a tremendous amount of weight to the keyword phrase appearing in the title of the HTML document, so you need to see how many of those pages are also using the phrase in their title. This is done by entering into Google Search:

allintitle:”keyword phrase in quotes”

Use keyword phrases that return no more than 10,000 results. Once again, using the same example as above:

allintitle:”best software for blogging” (This returns 34 results)

Keywords are important for generating traffic. You can’t go wrong if you use the above as a formula.

- At least 1,000 monthly searches
- No more than 30,000 pages in Google “in quotes”
- No more than 10,000 results for “allintitle”

Now that you have your keywords how do you use them to rank higher with Google and attract a steady stream of free traffic?

Search engines give a lot of weight to keywords used in the title of your document so it is important to use them there.

Other places that are almost as important for keyword placement are as follow:

*Domain Name – Having keywords in your domain name can really help boost your site’s rankings. The best domain extension for SEO, in order, are:

.com
.org
.net

*URL – besides your domain you can put your keywords elsewhere in your URL. For example, Directories and HTML files can be named using keywords.

*Heading Tags – Heading tags are used by websites to separate the page into sections. The H1 tag is given the most weight, but it is best used only once on the page. Your H2 and H3 tags can be used for more keywords.

*Body Content – You should use your keywords in the body of your site. Use your keyword phrase at least twice per page. A word of caution, do not overuse it. Repeating the same phrase to many times on one page is spammy and can actually hurt your ranking.

Here are a couple of resources that I highly recommend and use myself. You will find these extremely helpful:

**Niche Finder**

This is my favorite, all-in-one, keyword tool. It is the only keyword software you will ever need. Some of the features included are:

• Enter a keyword and Niche Finder will uncover profitable niches.
• Shows you how competitive any keyword is and how difficult or easy it will be to rank that keyword in Google.
• Generate an unlimited number of long tailed keywords actually being searched, right now, on Google and find exact match domain names for any keyword.
• Quickly see the difficulty level of getting a keyword ranked in Google and view monthly search counts in google for bothgGlobal and local searches. This comes directly from Google (in real-time).
• Plan your entire SEO strategy based on the summary data that Niche Finder generates for you.
• View Adwords Cost Per Click Data. (great for Adsense marketers).

I have been able to arrange with Brad Callen, the maker of Niche Finder, a 50% discount but you need to use this link:

http://monkeyheadcafe.com/r/NicheFinder

**SEOPressor WordPress Plugin**

I use this plugin on all my WordPress blogs. No other single SEO WordPress plugin can do what this plugin can. Some of the features are:

• Finds keywords on the Internet and tells you how you can use them. It keeps monitoring the keywords and continuously makes suggestions. It also tells you what density you should use the keyword in and what special formatting you need to keep it.
• Looks at the tags you have used and makes suggestions on how to improve prospects. It makes suggestions on which tagging formats should be used—H1, H2 or H3—and carries it out by itself.
• Looks at your individual posts and suggest changes if anything is wrong. It also tells you the value of each of your existing posts.

SEOPressor comes with a single-site  or a multi-site license. You can aquire your own copy here:

http://monkeyheadcafe.com/r/SEOPressor

My next post, in this traffic generation series will focus on using articles.

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Category: Articles