Getting a high search engine ranking for your website is crucial. Studies show that anywhere from 40% to over 75% of your traffic will come from search engine referrals. It has also been shown that over 95% of people never look past the first two pages of search results. If you're not listed in those first two pages, chances are you won't get any attention - or visitors.

There are many companies devoted exclusively to improving the search engine rankings for their client's websites. And for good reason - it's difficult! To fully optimize your site for each of the major 8 or so search engines, you need to understand cloaking, keyword density, and other techie terms that most of us have never even heard of. And the search engines are constantly changing their parameters.

So what can YOU do?

Fortunately, A LOT!

There are several steps you can take to improve your search engine ranking, with minimal technical know-how. Below is a list of practical steps virtually everyone should apply when creating their website:

• Plan for search engine optimization at the design stage.
  • While you can always go back and rework your site, ideally, you should apply the steps here BEFORE you begin writing your website content and developing the design.
• Optimize for Google.com and Inktomi.
  • The databases for these two companies account for approximately 90% of the online search market. Google, for example, provides search results for Yahoo, meaning that if you optimize for Google, you are optimizing for Yahoo. (The tips here are geared to Google and Inktomi.)
  • Lesson: Don't worry about optimizing your site for hundreds of search engines. Do it first for the two that matter most.
• Choose Your Keywords Wisely.
  • Search engines have software that scour websites looking for keywords. When someone does a search, the search engine lists sites that contain those keywords.
  • Keywords should:
    • Accurately describe your product or services without being overly generic.
      For example, a printing company that specializes in postcards would be better off using "postcard printer", rather than "printer", as their keyword. A more specific keyword will make you the bigger fish in the smaller, but more relevant, pond.
    • Be commonly used for searches.
      You can find out how many times people actually search for your keywords at following website: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/.
      
      Using the printing company example again, you will find that "printer" was searched for approximately 151,000 times, while "postcard printer" was searched for 2,300 times. It's much easier to get a high search engine ranking for those 2,300 very relevant searches, than for the more generic and voluminous 150,000 queries.
      
      It is also important that you try variations of your keywords in order to find which variation people actually use most. For example, 686 people searched for "ad banner" in a recent month, while 7034 searched for "banner ad". By choosing the right keyword you have gained over ten-times as many potential visitors!
• Use Your Keywords Effectively.
  • Keyword Density
    • This simply refers to how often you use your keywords in your website content. While each search engine's software uses different paramters, a good rule of thumb is to use your keyword about 3 - 7 times per 250 words.
    • Be sure to use your keyword at least 3 times in the first 100 words of the page.
  • Meta Title
    • The title tag is the most important of all the meta tags for search engine ranking. Be sure to include your keywords in it.
  • Meta Keywords
    • It is crucial that you include your keywords inside the Meta keyword tags. Search engine software is programmed to look for the keywords here.
  • Meta Description
    • The Meta Description is what search engines display when your site is listed on the results page. Be sure to include your keywords in the description, as it will improve your ranking.
  • Alt Tags
    • The Alt tags are the little descriptions that pop up when you put your cursor over an image. Search engines will not find your keyword if it is a graphic, say in a menu button. However, if you put your keyword in the Alt tag for that button, the search engine software will find it, increasing your keyword density and, thus, your ranking.
      
• Code Your Keywords for Maximum Effect.
  • Most search engines place higher emphasis on keywords that are included in the Headers (H1 tag) and Sub-headers (H2 tag). Therefore, you should design your page and write your copy to accomodate that.
    
    Another trick is to use the H1 and H2 tags for your keywords when listing your products or services. For example, on the copywriting page of my site, I added the header tags to each of the copywriting projects I listed.
    
    
    NOTE: If you don't understand HTML and Meta tags mentioned here, ask your webmaster or e-mail me and I will point you in the right direction.

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