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The Power of Branding: What’s in a Name?

Acquiring a good domain name nowadays can be very difficult, as it seems like all of the good names have been taken. In the beginning of the domain name game, you could acquire any name you wanted without failure, now as corporations buy domains by the thousands it has become nearly impossible to find a name that will suit your business perfectly. However, it is important not to give up on your search for the perfect domain name. The name of your website will be your online brand. Having a memorable and authoritative brand is very important because it will give you a presence in your niche.

Building an Online Reputation Through Branding

You may think that the name of your website does not matter, however this couldn’t be further from the truth. Even the best search engine optimization experts on the planet cannot give you what a good domain name can. The first thing people will mention when they talk about your website is the domain name. With countless millions of websites online, it is very important to have a name that is simple to remember.

Every domain name is completely unique, therefore it can be seen as your online fingerprint. The entire identity of your online business will be decided primarily by your domain name. Simply having a good domain name will make your site appear to be more credible, and it can even make the search engines favor your site more, depending upon what keywords your domain names contain.

Finding The Right Domain Name

Thousands of domains are purchased each day, and every moment you let pass without purchasing your dream domain, is another opportunity for your competition to purchase it first. Some individuals and companies purchase domain names by the hundreds just to turn around and sell them for ridiculous prices to people that need them in the future. If these companies can make a living off of finding good domain names, then surely you can find just one to represent your online business!

Finding the right name can be a very difficult process, but before you resort to paying an exuberant amount of cash to retrieve your desired domain name, you should consider your options. If you lack in the creativity department you could use a domain name generator software that will automatically generate concepts for you. You could also enlist the help of freelancers. There are many creative minds online in forum communities that would be willing to lend a helping hand for just a few extra dollars You could hold a contest in one of these forums and specify what you are looking for in a domain name. This is a good way to brainstorm with other people from all walks of life.

Don’t Hesitate

If you have an idea for a domain name now, then I would strongly suggest that you purchase it now before someone else does. You never know when the domain name will no longer be available.

Your domain name is a very important part of your online business, in fact without a memorable name your entire business could fail based on this factor alone! Remember this the next time someone asks you “What’s in a name?” Give them this answer: “Success!”

Search Engine Optimization: Keywords vs. Content

Most are familiar with the phrase “content is king.” However this cliche is not entirely true. There are many sites online that are packed with very informative content, yet they have very low page rankings. The truth is, without proper keyword placement and usage, even the most interesting and informative content will not receive the press it deserves. In order to reach the world with your content, you’ll need to understand balance between keyword density and informative content.

The Importance of Keywords

Keywords are the main focus in search engine optimization. When users type in a search query in their favorite search engine, they are actually typing in a keyword or phrase. The search engine then combs it’s database to find the most popular/useful site centered around that keyword. The search engines use a number of algorithms to calculate the usefulness and popularity of a website. It should be noted that popularity alone will not raise your page rankings, instead your site must be full of content that is useful and contains the proper keyword density.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is the percentage of words out of the total content that contain the keyword. An optimal keyword density would be about 3%-5%. To put this into perspective, you’ll want to include the targeted keyword about 3-5 times in a 500-1000 word article. The placement of the keyword is also very important as well. SEO experts note that your chances of success are greater if you include the keyword within the first 25 words of the article, and within the last 25 words of the article. You’ll also want to include the keyword at least once in the middle of the article. Keywords should also be placed in title tags,  and meta tags wherever possible.

Keyword Placement

Instead of mindlessly placing the keywords in a useless articles, it is optimal to include keywords in the same sentence as other key phrases. For this reason you may want to consider creating pages that focus on several keywords, with one main keyword being the primary focus. For example, if the main keyword is: “ keyword optimization,” then you might want to place that keyword in the same sentence with the keyword: “keyword density.” This way when a user searches for “keyword optimization and keyword density,” your site has a chance of appearing in the top results. Although this may not work 100% of the time, experimenting with practices like this are the best way to target specific search queries.

Conclusion

While keywords are important, there has to be substance within the content as well, and any clerical errors are indexed and will deduct from your total page ranking. For the best results, you’ll want your content to be useful to the reader. This will improve the overall popularity of your website, which will ultimately increase your page ranking as mentioned. Before uploading any content to your website, make sure it has been proofread and edited. It is also important to be consistent with your practices. It often takes weeks to see the results of your labor. If you give up on a specific method too soon, or if you change your methods regularly, then it will be difficult to find out what brings success.

Search Engine Optimization – The Basics Explained

As the internet grows exponentially each day, it becomes harder to gain recognition as a small business owner. Having to compete with large corporations that possess seemingly infinite advertising funds is a difficult task to say the least. In fact, it would be literally impossible without a thorough knowledge in search engine optimization. Search engines are responsible for more than 80 percent of the traffic distributed on the internet. If your site does not rank highly in the search engines, then there is simply no way you can become a formidable presence in your niche. There are many secrets to be learned before you can master the art of search engine optimization, however learning the basics will give you the head start needed to compete with experts in the field.

Quality Content

When web surfers search for a phrase in a search engine, they are looking for an answer. The website that best solves this question, according to the search engine, will appear at the top of the search results. A search engine judges the usefulness of a website based on numerous factors. One of the ways search engines judge your site’s usefulness is the amount of time each visitor spends on each page. If your visitors only spend 30 seconds at your site before leaving, then the search engines will view your website’s content as relatively useless. Another way search engine’s judge the usefulness of your site is by calculating the number of links containing your website’s URL that exist on the internet. These links are called backlinks. The more backlinks in existence, the more useful your site appears to be. In order to boost your site’s search engine ranking, you’ll need to provide engaging content updated on a regular basis.

Keyword Optimization

Simply having useful content is not enough. You want your content to be based on keywords that will attract attention for your niche. Try to remember that you are targeting search engine queries, so you’ll want to include key phrases within the content of your website. Before you begin writing or buying content for your site, you’ll want to do some keyword research. Find out what the most popular current search phrases are in your niche. You’ll also want to choose a keyword that is not over-saturated with competition. You can find out all of this information by using keyword research tools provided by Google. You can even find out what the hottest keywords of the day are by using Google Hot Trends. Once you have decided upon your keyword, it is important to use the proper keyword density. Search engines frown upon spam content that is littered with over-used keywords. You want your content to have a keyword density of about 1-3%.  Make sure you place the keyword in the beginning, middle and end of each article on your website. It is also important to include keywords in the design of your website, within title tags, meta tags, and even anchor text.

Getting Indexed

Once you have created your website and filled it with useful content, you’ll need to get the attention of the search engine crawlers. To do this you can submit your sitemap to Google and a few other popular search engines. You can also submit your site to a few popular online directories and social bookmarking sites. As your popularity increases the search engine crawlers will begin to notice your site, and eventually your site will be fully indexed. It is best to have a site that is heavy in basic text, as search engine crawlers index this kind of information more efficiently.

Simple Tips for Effective Search Engine Optimization

Obtaining a high search engine ranking is on the top of most webmasters’ priority list, however this task can be a daunting one, especially without the proper education. Proper search engine optimization requires much more than simple keyword density and good content. The following tips will help you obtain a high search engine ranking, and more importantly, keep it.

Visitors Before Crawlers

Most people become so engrossed with trying to please the search engine crawlers that they forget their primary focus is to build a large visitor base. Many webmasters do not realize that one of the factors search engines consider is viewer satisfaction. Every time a visitor accesses your site through a search engine, the search engine records how long each visitor stays at your site. If the visitors stay for a longer period of time, then your site is viewed as being more useful and therefore the rank rises. The best way to build a reputable site is to provide useful and engaging content, and to update the site daily with new information. Another way to promote a healthy visitor base is by providing simple site navigation.

Use Keywords Liberally

Keywords are probably the single most influential factor of search engine optimization. A single properly placed keyword can cause your sit ranking to boost by hundreds of page ranks.  However, using keywords does not mean simply using them in the content. In order for keywords to be used most effectively, you’ll want to use them within the actual design of your website. A good example would be using keywords in meta tags and title tags, or on the title of the main web page. Make sure each page on your site has a title that is relevant to the keyword you are targeting for that page.

Quality Content Over Quantity

Good content is what will ultimately will keep your visitors returning. However having a site full of useless content is not going to do you any good. Although search engines index your site based on the content you provide, it is important to note that the content has to be worded properly, and grammatical errors are taken in to context when the search engines index your site. A good way to make your site rank high is by keeping your readers engaged for longer periods of time by using what is called “sticky content.” Sticky content is content that engages the reader for long periods of time. If your site is littered with erroneous articles that are simply not interesting, it doesn’t matter how many articles you have, the users are not going to be interested in them. Focusing too much on keyword density can cause your content to appear “spammish”, which will be detrimental to both your search engine ranking and your visitor base.

Link Exchanging and Backlinks

One of the ways the search engines judge the popularity of your website is via backlinks. Backlinks are links on other websites that contain the URL of one of your site’s web pages. The more sites that have your link featured, the more popular your site appears to be. Backlinks are an excellent way to boost search engine ranking quickly. The best way to get a large number of backlinks is by link exchanging. Contact other webmasters by using the “contact us” section of their site, and let them know that you will feature their link on your site if they will do the same for you. It is important to get quality backlinks however, by having your link featured on sites that are authoritative in your niche.

Making Search Engine Traffic a Priority

Most online marketing approaches are risky and unfortunately, many of them will not result in the increased website traffic you desire.  Today’s internet marketing firms will try to sell you on everything from pop-up ads to mass email campaigns, both of which people tend to find very annoying.  Being that an email campaign is more like spam distribution and pop-up advertisements are so aggravating they could actually cause you to lose customers, investing in such marketing solutions just might equate to throwing money out the window.  Instead of wasting money on these risky strategies, perhaps you should focus on something that actually works – search engine optimization.

Boost Traffic the Natural Way

It is a proven fact that the most effective way to reel in targeted traffic and potential customers is through the search engines.  A number of studies show that nearly 90% of first-time visitors find their way to a website via search engines powered by internet brands such as Google and Yahoo.  You yourself are probably in this high percentile of web surfers who bypass all the pop-ups, spam messages and PPC ads by relying on the convenient search box to find the content you seek.  Search engines offer a consistent stream of targeted website visitors and in most cases, leveraging this traffic is absolutely free.  What you have to do is make sure your content is relevant to the search results because if it isn’t, visitors will likely be very disappointed when landing on your site.   If you keep this is mind when optimizing your site, the search engines will reward you with increased traffic of excellent quality.

When Users Search, Everybody Wins

Search engine traffic results in a win-win situation for anyone trying to promote a website or business online.  Improving your volume of traffic does take a lot of money or hard work for that matter.  All that is required of you is good site optimization.  Despite the millions of active domains throughout the world, an alarming number of web pages are not indexed by the major search engines for the simple fact that most of them are not optimized correctly, or not optimized at all.  Unless you have a winning marketing strategy that simply cannot fail, this makes it very difficult for anyone to find your website.  Though it can be a challenge, optimizing a website is also something that can be done by an individual with little to no marketing knowledge.

Believe it or not, the search engines want to send you as much traffic as possible.  This is because the more users who find the content they want, the more they will rely on that search engine and recommended it to others.  The actual search engine benefits tremendously as these recommendations lead to increased popularity and advertising revenues.  Search engines can be an excellent resource that helps internet users find what they desire and provide you with the targeted traffic needed to keep your site alive.