Copyright 2004 Suzanne Morrison

With search engines like Google currently indexing over 8
billion pages, it is becoming more and more difficult to
get a top search engine ranking. Type in a popular search
phrase such as “Internet Marketing” into Yahoo or Google
and you will be returned over 8 million results!

Unless your website is in the first two or three pages, it
is unlikely that you will receive many visitors from search
engines.

So what should a webmaster do to give their website thebest
chance of ranking high in the search engines?

All search engines work slightly differently and have ever
changing algorithms for ranking web pages, but these tips
can be applied when planning, developing or marketing a
website to help you reach that top page of search engine
results.

(1) Choose your keywords carefully

It’s extremely important to set aside time to research your
keywords. It’s best to do this in the planning stages,
before developing your website, but many of us start a
website without knowing a thing about how the search
engines work, so you may find yourself doing this weeks or
months later.

Try to choose phrases that are searched on frequently and
if possible have a low number of competing websites.

To get an idea of the number of times a keyword is searched
for per month, type a keyword into the box at

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

This will tell you how many times your keyword was searched
on in the previous month (based on Overture’s partner
search engines) and give you a list of similar keywords.

Another useful tool to help you choose your keywords is
Word Tracker. This tool will help you choose your keywords
and give you a “KEI” for each set of keywords based on the
popularity of the keyword (number of searches) and the
amount of competition.

You can try this out for free on:
http://www.homebiz-direct.com/wordtracker.html

If you manage to pick your keywords in the planning stages
you may even be lucky enough to find a domain name that
contains your keywords.

(2) Optimise your pages

Once you have decided on your keywords you will need to
optimise your pages for those keywords. Here are a few tips.

Here are a few tips for optimising your web pages:

- Ensure that the Title of your page contains your keywords.

- Mention your keywords inside the meta tags. Most search
engines no longer use meta tags, but some make use of them
so it is still worthwhile using these.

- Try to make sure that the first occurance of readable
text on your page contains your keywords

- Ensure that your keywords are mentioned in the initial
paragraph of your page

- Use your keywords throughout the text of your page - but
be careful not to overdo this. Your page should still be
readable by humans!

- Use your keywords between the headline tags on your page
(”H1″ tags or H2/H3 if H1 is too big)

- Occasionally bold or italicise your keywords

- Make sure that links pointing back to each page on your
site contain the keywords for each page

- Give all your images an “ALT” tag and put your keywords
in here too - again, don’t overdo this

- Try to put some of your keywords in your outbound links

(3) Start Linking

One of the most important criteria in getting a good search
engine ranking is the number of backlinks you have to your
website from related websites.

Type in your chosen keywords to Yahoo or Google and take
note of the top 3 sites returned to you.

Now go to http://tools.marketleap.com/publinkpop/ and put
the URLs of the top three sites into the linking tool,
along the URL of your own site.

Have a look at the difference between your site and the top
3 sites and this will give you an idea of how many links
you need in order to get a top search engine ranking for
these keywords.

The best ways to get links back to your site are:

- By writing articles related to the subject of your
website and getting them published on the internet

- Reciprocal Linking with other related websites

- Posting on newsgroups and forums that allow you to have a
signature attached to your posting (with your uRL in it)

- Submitting your site to directories.

Try to make sure that the anchor text (clickable text) that
links back to your site contains your keywords.

(4) Add Content Regularly

Another thing you may have noticed is that top ranking
websites have lots of content.

Regularly updating your website and adding fresh content
will also help your site to rank more highly in the search
engines.

If you don’t have time to create your own unique content
there are plenty free articles available Just type “Free
website content” into Google and you’ll have your pick of
the 18 million results that it returns to you!

To improve your ranking, follow steps 1 and 2 above and
repeat steps 3 and 4 regularly.

You can check your progress on Yahoo and Google by using
the free search engine ranking tools at the following sites:

http://www.yahoosearchrankings.com/index.php
http://www.googlerankings.com/

About the Author:

Suzanne Morrison is the webmaster and owner of
http://www.homebiz-direct.com To learn more about how to
promote your website visit her Internet Marketing pages on
http://www.homebiz-direct.com/internetMarketing.html

By Michael Lee

You have probably heard other people say that “Money isn’t
everything” or “Money can’t buy happiness.” They may be
right in some aspects; but it’s not just about the money.

It’s about having an ideal lifestyle - being able to have
control over your time and schedule, having no one ordering
you around, not having to look at the price tags everytime
you go out shopping, and just enjoying the freedom that you
truly deserve.

But why do many people fail to achieve financial freedom?
Through experience, I have observed that they have limited
belief.

That’s the problem with most people. They have set up a
boundary in their minds. This barrier stops any
possibility of surpassing the current limits of their
belief.

For example, many people would think that their boring
day job is all that they’re good enough for. They do
not like to think outside the box. They do not grab
opportunities that are theirs for the taking. Fears
and doubts have been causing them to miss these golden
chances of a lifetime.

There are plenty of opportunities out there. They may
enroll in night classes, do some research on how to make
more money, or start an internet business.

When I was just starting my online endeavors, all my
friends and relatives (with the exception of my internet
marketing friends, of course) would discourage me in
entering this venture. They would repeatedly inform me
that I’m wasting my time and nothing good would come out
of it.

Had I listened to them, I would not have achieved online
success. If they have succeeded in implanting their own
restricted beliefs into my mind, I never would have
tasted the joy of being an infopreneur.

No offense to them. I respect their decisions.
Everyone has the right to voice out their opinions, but
no one has the right to force others in accepting their
belief. Thank goodness my internet marketing pals have
encouraged and supported me all the way.

Believe that you have the capacity and power to attain
moneymaking success, and you’re halfway there.

Plan everything. Make a list of things that would
allow you to save money. Cut back on using your
credit card, pay your bills on time, make wise
investment decisions, and try your best to start in
some sort of business (no matter how small).

More importantly, action should be taken. It’s not
enough to just believe. You have to make a move.
Does making mistakes frighten you? Don’t be. The
more mistakes you make, the closer you will get to
success.

Sacrifice. Instead of watching TV or going shopping,
invest more time on those activities that would propel
you in reaching your financial goals.

Many people would repeatedly complain that they’re
sick and tired of their lives, but do they really
deserve a better life? The harder you work, the
more chances that success will hit you.

Never, ever give up. Quitting is not an option.
You must keep on pounding and pounding until you
have achieved your mission.

Money may not be everything, but living your life
the way you want it to be is.

About the Author:

Michael Lee is the author of “How To Be A Red Hot
Persuasion Wizard,” an ebook that reveals powerful
secrets on how to easily make friends, fully improve
your relationships, multiply your profits, win
negotiations, and attain freedom and power. Visit
http://www.20daypersuasion.com to grab a sample chapter