Print | Send To Friends | Add To Favorites | Comment

10 Costly Search Engine Mistakes to Avoid

By: Jeff Casmer

Article Word Count: 856 words  [Comments (0)]
Total Views: 3 Views

If you have a website then you already know the importance of traffic. Traffic is to Internet marketing as location is to real estate. It's the only thing that really matters. If you cannot generate targeted visitors to your site, you will not make any sales.
Usually the owner or designer of the website is the person designated to drive traffic to the site. The chief ingredient in generating traffic is the search engine. Of coarse, you can use advertising, but it's going to cost you. Using the search engines to generate targeted (interested in your product) traffic is the least expensive method known.

Unfortunately, many website owners do not understand the importance of search engine visibility, which leads to traffic. They place more importance on producing a "pretty" website. Not that this is bad, but it is really secondary to search engine placement. Hopefully, the following list of common mistakes, made by many website owners, will help you generate more targeted traffic to your site...after all, isn't that what you want.

1. Not using keywords effectively.

This is probably one of the most critical area of site design. Choose the right keywords and potential customers will find your site. Use the wrong ones and your site will see little, if any, traffic.

2. Repeating the same keywords.

When you use the same keywords over and over again (called keyword stacking) the search engines may downgrade (or skip) the page or site.

3. Robbing pages from other websites.

How many times have you heard or read that "this is the Internet and it's ok" to steal icons and text from websites to use on your site. Don't do it. Its one thing to learn from others who have been there and another to outright copy their work. The search engines are very smart and usually detect page duplication. They may even prevent you from ever being listed by them.

4. Using keywords that are not related to your website.

Many unethical website owners try to gain search engine visibility by using keywords that have nothing at all to do with their website. They place unrelated keywords in a page (such as "sex", the name of a known celebrity, the hot search topic of the day, etc.) inside a meta tag for a page. The keyword doesn't have anything to do with the page topic. However, since the keyword is popular, they think this will boost their visibility. This technique is considered spam by the search engines and may cause the page (or sometimes the whole site) to be removed from the search engine listing.

5. Keyword stuffing.

Somewhat like keyword stacking listed above, this means to assign multiple keywords to the description of a graphic or layer that appears on your website by using the "alt=" HTML parameter. If the search engines find that this text does not really describe the graphic or layer it will be considered spam.

6. Relying on hidden text.

You might be inclined to think that if you cannot see it, it doesn't hurt. Wrong.... Do not try to hide your keywords or keyword phrases by making them invisible. For example, some unethical designers my set the keywords to the same color as the background of the web page; thereby, making it invisible.

7. Relying on tiny text.

This is another version of the item above (relying on hidden text). Do not try to hide your keywords or keyword phrases by making them tiny. Setting the text size of the keywords so small that it can barely be seen does this.

8. Assuming all search engines are the same.

Many people assume that each search engine plays by the same rules. This is not so. Each has their own rule base and is subject to change anytime they so desire. Make it a point to learn what each major search engine requires for high visibility.

9. Using free web hosting.

Do not use free web hosting if you are really serious about increasing site traffic via search engine visibility. Many times the search engines will eliminate content from these free hosts.

10. Forgetting to check for missing web page elements.

Make sure to check every page in your website for completeness, like missing links, graphics, etc. There are sites on the web that will do this for free.

This is just a few of the methods and techniques that you should avoid. Do not give in to the temptation that these methods will work for you. They will do more harm than good for your website.

Not only will you spend weeks of wasted effort, you may have your site banned from the search engines forever. Invest a little time to learn the proper techniques for increasing search engine visibility and your net traffic will increase.


About the Author

Jeff Casmer will help you setup your very own money making website today that's 100% ready to take orders and pull in MASSIVE PROFITS for you right now...GUARANTEED! Plus, you'll get your own pre-written ezine-in-a-box customized and setup for you absolutely free WITHIN 24 HOURS!! Get started immediately at: http://www.24hourwealth.com

Print | Send To Friends | Add To Favorites | Comment

Related articles


Email Marketing Strategy for your Online Business By: Francis Hirak - Having an email marketing strategy for your online business is a must.
 
Email Marketing is all About Building Trust and Relationships By: Francis Hirak - Building trust and relationships through email marketing is the result of writing a quality newsletter.
 
Why Create a Blog to Promote Your Home Business By: Francis Hirak - There are a small number of retailers who truly understand that when you create a blog to promote your home business, it can be an extremely effective way to increase traffic to your business.
 
Use Article Marketing to Promote Your Website Effectively Writing Articles By: Francis Hirak - As a result of article marketing, you will discover, that when you promote your website writing articles, as your marketing strategy, it is a fast and simple way to build your credibility as an expert in your field.
 
Successful websites donÂ’t set out to sell By: Glenn Murray - What are websites? Are they sales tools for vendors and service providers, or are they electronic guidance for potential customers? Put simply, are you selling or are you helping? Your answer to this question may determine the success of your website.
 
Mix Infopublishing And Affiliate Marketing For Massive Profits By: Kirsten Hawkins - Believe it or not, finding a product to market is usually the least of your concerns.
 
How To Market Without A Website By: Kirsten Hawkins - Despite what internet marketing “gurus” tell you, you do not need to have a website to be successful in internet marketing.
 
Tips For Hot List-Building By: Kirsten Hawkins - Here are some hot list-building tips for you to grow your list and your business.
 
The Makings Of A Succesful Selling Proposition By: David Riewe - The secret of a successful online marketing or online transaction lies on a good reasonable price.
 
How to get your customers to trust your website By: Glenn Murray - Research reveals three important facts: 1) The Internet is one of the most important sources of information.
 
The Easiest Way To Have A Google Adsense Account Fast By: Mark Tse - Google Adsense is one of the easiest way to allow webmasters to make money from content websites.
 
Pixel advertisements redefine internet marketing to provide free traffic By: Jayadeep Rath - 26th August 2005 witnessed the dawn of a new era in internet marketing.
 
The Power Of Internet Marketing By: David Andrew Smith - Since instigating proper SEO techniques I have seen my web site visitors increase by over 1500%.
 
'Social Bookmarking' As An Aggressive and Acceptable Blog Marketing Tactic By: gregw - Social bookmarking websites are becoming more and more popular.
 
How To Set Yourself Apart In The Sea Of Online Marketers By: Jason Tarasi - Do you feel odd when you write marketing material to publish online? Do you read over old marketing items and wonder why in the world it says what it does? Do you think, “I can’t believe I published that!”? Do you hire a copywriter and just accept whatever they come up with? After all, they are professionals! If your online marketing material stimulates an image in your mind that is just not you, likely you’ve been trying to model your approach after someone else or you’ve been using work produced by someone else without giving them the benefit of knowing you, learning your approach, sharing your ideas and interjecting your personality into the material.
 

Search the Articles


Subscribe

Receive alert message from us when new articles submitted to our site for free.

Enter your name

Enter your email

Categories

Syndicates