How SEO Efforts Fail

The main cause of most failed SEO attempts is the lack of continual SEO. In other words, SEO requires patience, and it can take months before you see the results of your work. Therefore it is crucial to maintain a certain set of strategies for a prolonged period of time to see if they actually work or not. Simply executing a few strategies and then switching to a different strategy the next day is not going to help you determine what works and what doesn’t. Instead of placing all of this burden on themselves, many website owners rely upon tools to facilitate the search engine optimization process. Perhaps the most fundamental tool needed for a proper SEO is a competent web hosting plan. The following information will help you select a hosing plan that will improve your sites search engine optimization.

Web Hosting SEO

When selecting a web hosting package it is important to look for plans that offer control panels and other tools that have specific features geared towards continual SEO. These services are designed to improve the page rank of your website by formatting the coding of your website in a search engine friendly manner. These services often include open source control panels and content management systems that allow for instant expandability with web applications that are designed to enhance the SEO efforts of the website owner. An example of the SEO-oriented features of such automatically place SEO-friendly title tags and meta tags on each page.

Web Applications

Another way you can use your web hosting plan for search engine optimization is through the endless selection of web applications that can be used to extend the capabilities of your hosting control panel. There are literally thousands of these applications, designed specifically to increase the search engine optimization efforts of your website quickly and easily. An example of such an application would be one that automatically retrieves backlinks for your site by posting all of your site posts to various social bookmarking sites simultaneously. As your site gains more exposure from these social bookmarking sites, people will begin linking back to your site, which will eventually improve the search engine ranking of your site. This is just one example of the many web applications that can be added to your web hosting control panel to improve your SEO efforts.

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Think SEO and User-friendly Domain - In order to be considered search engine-friendly, your domain name must be preferably short and easy to remember.  This way, users can recall it much faster and the probability of generating quality traffic becomes much greater.  In most cases, a long, complicated name will only work against you and hinder your success.

Focus on Keywords - Keywords add to the success of a domain name because they play such a critical role in the SEO process.  When implementing keywords into your URL, search engines like Google will index it faster, thus increasing the possibility of higher click-through rates and most importantly, more exposure.

Be Cautious of Hyphens - Many SEO experts speak strongly against inserting hyphens in a domain name.  This is because they can lead to complications such as users forgetting where the hyphen is to be positioned within the domain.  Because there could be many similar websites that contain domain names without hyphens, you want to be very careful that you do not direct visitors to your competition.

Optimize for Type-in Traffic – Some internet users have a habit of typing keywords directly into their browser bar instead of a search box.  To leverage this type of traffic, you may want to register a domain that contains your targeted domain in its entirety to increase your traffic through this prevalent market.

Choose a Fitting TLD – There are many top level domain to choose from, but you will likely have more success from SEO standpoint by choosing a .com.

Establish Inbound Links – Inbound links are another part of the SEO process. You certainly want to establish quality links that include your domain.  If your site is devoid of such links, the search engines will conclude that it lacks relative content.  Keep in mind that poor links will negatively effective your optimization efforts.  For this reason, you want to avoid link farms and questionable practices employed by questionable SEO firms.

Choose a Good Domain Name Registrar – The key to obtaining an search engine-friendly domain name is to register the name with a respectable registrar.  There are many registrars on the market but not all can be relied upon.  We recommend sticking with known and trusted brands like GoDaddy and Yahoo or opting for one with your web hosting provider.

Registering a search engine-friendly domain will not guarantee you increased traffic or visibility.  Even SEO itself calls for you to promote your site in traditional ways and most importantly, make sure it contains quality content web surfers will be interested in.   Once you come to realize this, we are confident that these tips will go a long way in helping you achieve the visibility and success you desire online.

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• September 10, 2011 – Common Advice in Search Engine Optimization
• August 9, 2011 – SEO 101 : Focusing on Backlinks
• April 22, 2011 – Becoming a Domain Speculator with No Experience
• May 8, 2009 – Three Essential Elements of SEO
• September 14, 2011 – The Dummies’ Guide To SEO
• August 6, 2011 – RankCheck.org – free tool to check rank of your website
• April 19, 2011 – How to Tell If a Domain Name Is Valuable
• March 14, 2011 – How Dedicated Host Can Enhance Search Engine Optimization Results
• December 17, 2010 – Search Engine Optimization with No Investment Needed
• November 5, 2010 – Search Engine Optimization – Link Building the Fast Way

Keywords and Phrases

The most basic and effective SEO technique of all is the use of keywords and key phrases. Keywords simply refer to the terms users commonly enter into a search engine.  Search engine robots or spiders are trained to crawl the web and find these terms.  Once these words are found, the corresponding web page is indexed by the spider and then listed in a search engine.  For the most part, key phrases are like keywords but simply have more words bundled together.  Key phrases may be presented in the form of a question or other formats commonly associated with a particular niche.  When used properly, both can be the determining factor in the success of your SEO campaign.

Page Titles

If you take a look in the top of left corner of your browser, you will find text detailing the site you’re on and perhaps a brief description of what the page is about.  This is the title of a web page, often overlooked but oh so important.  Some webmasters don’t realize it, however, the title is one of the first elements a search engine spider will detect when landing on your site.  Because of this, you want to make sure your web pages have relative, keyword-rich titles.  When incorporating keywords into your titles, it is important to make sure you keep them relative and to a minimum.  Search engine spiders are designed to ignore sites that contain keyword stuffed pages.  This is why you want to be very careful not to overuse them.

Keyword Density

Because keyword stuffing is often looked down upon by the search engines, one must be cautious of going overboard.  In fact, overusing them can actually be more damaging than using none at all when it comes to getting rankings.  Keyword density is a way to make sure this doesn’t happen.  This technique basically refers to the number of keywords divided by the number of words on a web page.  On a page consisting of 500 words, experts suggest that anything over 5% is considered keyword stuffing while anything less is considered to make less of an impact.  For this reason, you want to find out what is appropriate density for the number of words on your pages.

Conclusion

Every step helps in the race to claim search engine fame.  If you think about it however, the top spots are limited and depending on the competition in your niche, earning high rankings might be next to impossible.   The good thing is that the rankings change frequently so if you stay at it, you could find yourself on the front page of Google at one time or another.

Related posts:

• September 14, 2011 – The Dummies’ Guide To SEO
• March 8, 2010 – Search Engine Optimization and Consumer Awareness
• September 23, 2009 – How Search Engine-Friendly is Your Domain Name?
• September 25, 2011 – Search Engine Optimization tips for Bing
• September 10, 2011 – Common Advice in Search Engine Optimization
• September 8, 2011 – SEO Web Hosting: A Powerful Tool to Dominate Search Engine Rankings
• August 9, 2011 – SEO 101 : Focusing on Backlinks
• November 23, 2010 – Two Basic Steps to Search Engine Optimization
• November 12, 2010 – SEO vs. Viral Marketing
• February 24, 2010 – Selecting an SEO-Oriented Web Hosting Plan

Distinguishing the Two

A good way to compare the two systems would be to look at the fundamental differences.  With Joomla, you can place ten different menus on a web page in any position or style you like.  Much of this can be done from scratch in a few easy clicks.  Its functionality is ideal for multiple users who have their own roles on the site as well as the administrator who needs to control the whole operation with ease.

If it has to be a user-friendly publishing tool for simple content that only requires one administrator, WordPress is the way to go.  This platform covers the blog scene with more efficiency, which is exactly what is designed to do.  It is very useful for attracting search engine bots with features such as ping and tracks, tag capabilities, and optimized URLs.  Though Joomla can be configured to produce clean URLs, it does take a little more work.  The overall theory is that blogs are search engine friendly and WordPress makes up a good portion of the argument.

WordPress as a CMS

WordPress has many beneficial uses but the results aren’t always that good when using it for larger jobs.  When the page count starts to add up in different categories, you may start to experience management issues  Joomla on the other hand, is made to handle such jobs and does it with relative ease.  If you’re looking to use WordPress for something that was created with a true content management system, you could be in for a rude awakening.  This platform will support a couple of hundred pages and basic content but don’t expect more than that.  Try to over do it and you could find yourself spending time on things that wouldn’t have been an issue with the proper software.

The Last Word

If your goals call for a blog or even a more interactive website, WordPress could be a viable option. This platform is highly regarded as the most streamlined publishing tool available, allowing you to get online fast with little to no technical knowledge.  Joomla is better for managing a larger amount of more complex content.  In the end, an expert user should be able to make the most of both solutions.  With all the available plugins, WordPress can be extended to the point where you wouldn’t know the site was power by a blogging tool.  If this platform can’t deliver the functionality you need, a genuine CMS such as Joomla makes a great choice.  The key is knowing what you need to get the job done and making the right choice from the start.

Recommended Web Hosting Services

For both WordPress and Joomla we recommend WebHostingHub.com, currently our best web hosting with average user rating of 4.7, based on 80+ user reviews. Check our WebHostingHub review and see for yourself.

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Domain and URLs

Before even purchasing a web hosting plan, you probably want to get yourself a domain first.  If you already have a name registered with another host, it shouldn’t be difficult to transfer it over to a new provider.  If not, you can easily register one for about $10 a year.  When it comes to SEO, both your domain and URLs are extremely important.  This is because when the search engine spiders come crawling, they index your pages individually opposed to the website itself.  With most hosting solutions, you have the ability to create custom URLs, so when used in conjunction with your domain name, it makes a great way to increase visibility in the eyes of the search engines.

Search Engine Friendly Features

The features a web hosting provider offers can also benefit your SEO efforts.  Because optimizing for targeted search engine traffic has proven to be effective, many hosts now offer tools that help research and choose the best keywords for your site.  Another great feature is the handy web application.  These utilities give you graphical statistics on your website traffic, showing when visitors came in and where they come from.  They usually show you which search engine spiders visited your site as well.  Then you have companies that offer free search engine submissions, free marketing credits, Google webmaster tools and more.   The average web hosting package is loaded with an arsenal of tools that can aid in SEO.

Finding the Right Solution

Although web hosting plays a major role in SEO, the actual results all depends on the hosting company.  This is why it is so crucial to put an emphasis on quality and reliability rather than the cost of service.  There are many types of hosting out there and finding a cheap solution is easier than ever before.  When looking for a service, you need to keep in mind that you are essentially placing the fate of your search engine rankings in the hands of another company.  This is one relationship where trust is key.  Without doing your research and rushing into a service, you can end up with a solution that does more harm to your visibility than good.  Worst of all, you may not even be aware of it.

You should also be cautious about hosting multiple domains on a single account and server.  While this may seem like a practical and cost effective move, it could also hinder your cause.

It is speculated that search engines view linking from within the same IP address as a move done to generate false link popularity.  In order to get the best results, SEO and web hosting need to work in perfect harmony.

Related posts:

• March 31, 2011 – Seo Friendly Links with mod_rewrite
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• February 24, 2010 – Selecting an SEO-Oriented Web Hosting Plan
• September 23, 2009 – How Search Engine-Friendly is Your Domain Name?
• May 8, 2009 – Three Essential Elements of SEO
• April 29, 2009 – Using a Generic Domain for SEO Purposes
• February 20, 2009 – Optimizing Your Website for MSN
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1. Search Engine Friendly – Drupal offers enhanced control over URL structure, making this CMS search engine friendly right out of the box.  Each piece of content can become customized with clean URLs that better your chances of ranking well in the search engines.

2.  Custom Content - The CCK (Content Construction Kit) in Drupal allows you to easily create various types of content.  Common examples include news stories, blog posts and tutorials.  With the Views Modules feature, you can display these content types in numerous ways.  While the average CMS requires complex coding to enable these tasks, Drupal makes it all simple as no programming experience is required.

3. Revision Control – Drupal allows you to save new versions of your web pages every time they are edited.  This gives you the ability to revert back to your old versions at any time.

4. Advanced Categorization – Drupal’s taxonomy system lets you organize and tag content with ease.  Known as vocabularies, each set of categories can be organized as certain types of content.  For instance, you could have blog content that permits free tagging while other sections can be limited to different list of categories.  When combined with the CCK and View Modules feature, this functionality makes it easy to target keywords you want to implement into your site.

5. User Management - The Drupal CMS was designed to support community-based sites, proven by the enhanced user and access control functionality it offers.  There are no limits to the user roles and access levels you can create and customize.  The best thing about Drupal is that it lets you keep advanced management features disabled and then enable them when your site grows and requires more community features.

6. PHP-based – By default, Drupal uses a PHP template theme engine, allowing you to instantly enhance the presentation of your site.  Applying themes in Drupal is easier than the WordPress environment and as long as the they are completely scripted, you don’t have to know anything about PHP to install them.

7. Excellent Community Support – Of all open-source content management systems, Drupal has one of the largest and most active communities.  You will understand how well supported the CMS is when taking a look at the long scroll of modules that have been contributed to the project.  There are many ways to get support including Drupal forums along with a number of video tutorials, podcasts and online documentation.  Drupal’s popularity gives you the assurance that this CMS will be around for a long time.

Joomla is highly functional yet lacks out of the box search engine friendliness.  WordPress is easy to use but can’t handle larger websites.  Where these systems and other platforms fail, Drupal picks up the slack with instant functionality able to satisfy a wide range of needs.

Related posts:

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