Cum să-ţi creşti traficul în mod gratuit

Nu-mi spune că vrei şi tu trafic. Nici măcar nu mă uimeşti. Hai să vedem cum se poate încropi ceva decent în direcţia asta:

1. Totul porneşte de la motoarele de căutare. Realitatea este că oricâte eforturi ai face (feed ars, newsletteruri, forumuri ataşate etc.), cei mai mulţi dintre vizitatorii tăi vin de acolo. Milioane şi milioane de oameni caută ceva zi de zi, şi potenţial zeci de mii ar putea ajunge la blogul tău, cu condiţia să ai conţinut valoros şi susceptibil să le trezească interesul. Aparent, motoarele de căutare fac toată treaba, tu numai trebuie să aştepţi flexat să dea lumea peste tine, însă în realitate poţi şi tu da o mână de ajutor. Întâi de toate, trebuie să bagi pe gât principalelor motoare, şi anume google şi yahoo, harta blogului tău, aşa încât să-ţi fie indexate paginile foarte repede. A doua chestie este să adaugi metataguri la blog. De aici pot veni destul de mulţi vizitatori, dar numărul lor până la urmă este decis de conţinutul pe care îl faci public (pe internet, ca peste tot, se caută lucrul bine făcut).

2. Înscrie-ţi blogul în Directoarele de bloguri. Partea proastă e că pentru această operaţiune trebuie să parcurgi proceduri niţel complicate de înregistrare, ba te mai şi trezeşti ulterior cu e-mail-uri trimise de la administratorii acestor liste (lucru pentru care recomand creearea unei adrese de mail fantomă). Partea bună e că pot veni şi de aici vizitatori, şi nu puţini. O listă a celor mai interesante Directoare de Bloguri este: Technorati,Topblogarea, Topblogging, Blogtoplist, Fuelmyblog, Blogcatalog,BloggingFusion, Bloghop, Blogarama, Topbloglist, Myblogdirectory, Blogroll.

3. Participă în forumuri, grupuri de discuţie, etc. Să presupunem că blogul tău este despre pisici. Caută pe google “pisici forum” sau “pisici group”, caută apoi pe googlegroups şi pe yahoogroups. După ce găseşti câteva, înregistrează-te şi foloseşte ca semnătură un link spre blogul tău (nu te obosi să trimiţi mesaje de genul “Cel mai pisicos blog din lume” că vei fi cu siguranţă ejectat ca spammer). Răspunde la întrebări, arată-le că te pricepi cu adevărat, şi te vei face respectat mai uşor decât crezi. Asta, fireşte, dacă ştii care e probabilitatea ca un motan alb şi cu ochi albaştri să nu fie surd (cunoscătorii ştiu, dacă nu ştii, lasă pisicile şi apucă-te de altceva, de exemplu de Paris Hilton...).

4. Foloseşte bookmarkingul social (del.icio.us, digg, furl, technorati). Este vorba despre comunităţi internet care partajează resurse, link-ul spre blogul tău fiind considerat o astfel de resursă. Pentru digg există şi versiune în limba română!

5. Înscrie articole în Directoarele cu Articole. Cele mai populare sunt: goarticles.com, ezinearticles.com, articlecity.com, dar pot fi găsite şi altele cu google.

6. Lasă comentarii pe alte bloguri. O metodă foarte simplă, care-ţi permite să laşi un link prin locurile pe unde deja există vizitatori. Partea drăguţă a acestei ocupaţii este că uneori technorati se lasă convins să-ţi crească astfel autoritatea, şi se pare că metoda mai are efecte pozitive şi la calcularea Page Rank-ului în google. Ca şi mai sus, nu încerca să apelezi la metode care să poată fi calificate drept spam, pentru că rişti să-ţi vezi comentariul şters.

Top 5 Ways A Blog Can Boost Your Business

A blog is a website that is updated frequently and is loved by Google for this very same reason. You see, the thing about Google is that it loves fresh new content and a blog is meant to do just that.

But how can a blog boost your business? Below we discuss five ways that a blog (any blog) can help your business and attract whatever it is you seek.

1. Visibility – one of the best things that can come out of you creating a blog for your business, is visibility.

As in getting your name and your brand out there on the web for people (and Google) to see. The worst thing about not having an online presence is someone (a potential client) typing your name or business name in their search engine of choice and coming up empty. No mention of you or your business. This is not 1996, this is 2011. Get with the program! And if you’re worried about bad publicity or negative customer reviews, guess what – a negative mention in 2011 is better that NO MENTION at all. So get out there and get visible. The way we see it, customer feedback is opportunity for improvement. Listen and fix it.

2. Leads – the great thing about setting up a blog is that it can fulfill whatever goal you set for it.

If leads is the name of your game, then make sure your blog does this for you. See more on that below.

3. Customers/Clients – I’ve done business with numerous clients as a direct result of my blog.

4. Referrals – if you decide to begin an informal social media marketing campaign on Twitter or Facebook, you will need a website to direct people to.

Make it a blog instead. This way you can update it regularly with news, tips, quotes, business photos and videos.

5. Sales – yes you can make money blogging, however the key is to set up a good business blog.

One that has goals attached to it and knows how to meet them. If the blog is generating clients for you, then you will be making sales. If the blog is generating leads for you, then you will be making sales. Referrals? The same applies and so on.

I am convinced that any business can benefit from a blog, any business including retail, food, finance, a local plumber, attorney, etc.

Keep It Simple

As long as you have an end goal in mind when you FIRST create the blog, you will reap what you sow. If you’re after leads, then set up an email marketing campaign to capture the email address of those who visit your site. What you do is offer a solid high quality freebie in return for the email address, and the trick is to keep it simple. Don’t go offering everything under the sun and clogging up your site with too much info, keep it simple and remember your end goal – to capture emails for email marketing.

Example – email marketing

Want a few good examples of what this might look like?

Ok. Have a look at what Chili’s and Learn Vest Daily are doing. They’re a great example of a simple (laser focused) site that is most likely meeting its goal. In fact, I am sure of it. They have an email sign up form front and center on their site and give away something for free to entice peole to sign up. The page is fun, clear and they have easy sign up forms.

To wrap this up, you now know five ways how a blog can boost your business. If you need help creating one, hit our contact button above and let me know.

HOW TO: Boost Your Blog Traffic

Many first time bloggers automatically assume that once their blog is setup and they put a few posts on it, they will get some hits and regular readers. This is quite untrue. You won't get any traffic if no one knows about your website. In this article I hope to tackle these problems and discuss some of the common ways bloggers and webmasters drive more traffic to their site by understanding the user. I have received many emails from aspiring bloggers asking me what they can do to get more traffic, so hopefully this will help out at least those people. 

Blog Usability

Before I get into getting your name out there, your blog has to have some style. Most web users are instantly turned off by tacky site designs or extreme neon colors. I know I won't stay at a website too long if the layout or navigation annoys me. The goal is to have a unique blog, different than all the other weblogs on the net. The one thing I really stress to others is making it easy for your readers to contact you. It shouldn't take a reader more than a click, if any, to find your email address or a contact form. This makes the reader feel like someone actually runs and cares about the website. An about page is also a great asset to have on a personal site or blog. The more a reader knows about you, the more they trust your content. I highly recommend reading this weblog usability article by usability guru Jakob Nielsen.

Content

Your blog's usability goes hand in hand with its content. You can specialize in a niche subject as long as you have an idea of how many people might be interested in that subject. If you do well with your niche subject matter, you could get some crazy traffic for being the only decent blog online with that type of content. On the other hand you could have widely used content, such as some aspect of technology, but add your own twist with your opinion or comparing/contrasting from other tech analysts. People won't go to your site to read something they could have read on CNet or Tom's Hardware, they want a unique take on it. If you learn anything from this article, I hope its that reblogging is a very bad thing. The one thing to kill your traffic is having identical content to another several hundred blogs. I suggest taking a glance at Mr. Veloso's Evils of Constant Reblogging to get a better idea. Finding out what your content should be is a key element of your blog's identity and the type of image your blog will ultimately emit.

Technorati is Your Best Friend

Technorati is one of the best traffic providers for bloggers. It makes your blog much easier to find when people search by technorati tags. Technorati is also a large blog ranking engine. Based on the number of links to your blog from various websites, your blog is given a rank. The higher your rank the easier your blog is to find when people search for things. A higher rank gives your blog greater credibility in technorati. If you don't already have a technorati account, get one. After you have setup the main settings, such as your profile, you need to claim your blog. Go to Account and then down the page to Your Blogs. Enter the URL of your blog in the URL field and then hit "Claim this weblog." Once you've done that go to "Configure this Blog" and fill in what you can. Click the checkbox to select "Include this blog in Technorati's Blog Finder" and fill out as many tags or keywords that accurately represent the content in your blog. When you've done that, click "Save Changes" and then grab your claim code. There are two types of codes that you may put somewhere in your blog for technorati to verify that your blog exists and keep track of it. If you have a blog that is Blogger powered or some other blog host that does not give you direct control of your blog files you will want to use the "Link Code" and post it somewhere on your blog. If you are using a more versatile blog publishing system, such as a customWordPress or Movable Type installation you should copy the "Embed Code." You can edit your sidebar, header, or footer file and put it wherever you like. You also have the option of posting a Technorati search box or various links on your blog without altering the code you just pasted. Select the options you like and click "Save Changes." Everything is done by automatically by Technorati. One last thing you might consider is adding the Technorati ping link to your weblog. Doing this will let Technorati know when you have updated your blog. Find out how to do that on Technorati's Ping Configuration page.

You will also want to search for a plugin for your publishing platform that supports Technorati tags. For WordPress users, I recommend Ultimate Tag Warrior. Installation can get a bit complex, so moving to a WordPress theme that has support for UTW, such asK2, is a good idea. Basically, when you post an entry you can supply it with Technorati tags. Update: WordPress 2.3 has built-in support for tags.

Blog Rings/Networks

Submitting your website to a blog network or blog ring is another excellent way to get more readers. There are many of these networks but the one that I use is BlogTopSites.com. BlogTopSites is a blog ranking website that makes your blog easier to find and search for as well. After you sign up for an account on their website, you just need to copy a bit of code and paste it somewhere on your site just like we did with Technorati. Make sure you select an appropriate category to post your blog in. If you are not careful, you'll find yourself in the same pool with some heavy hitting blogs and your ranking will be fairly puny. For WordPress users, you can join Blogs Of The Day by simply installing their plugin, which uploads your blog stats directly to them.

Burn that Feed!

By now you may have a few extra readers, but how can you help them come back? Many blog users will immediately scan the page for an RSS feed if they like your content. Most blogs, such as WordPress, already have RSS feeds integrated for entries and comments. Using the default feeds may suffice, but you won't have any idea about how many people you will be catering to. The FeedBurner service will take your feed and reproduce it on their fast servers while tracking reader statistics. I highly recommend signing up for the service and letting them burn your feed. I won't through the steps of signing up for FeedBurner, but once you're done with that find the "Publicize" tab. Click on "FeedCount" and activate the service. FeedCount lets you post a little icon on your blog that displays the current circulation of your feed as well as make it easier for people to subscribe to your feed. Select the colors you wish to use for the icon and post the code somewhere on your blog. Come back a few days later and you should see some detailed reader statistics under the "Analyze" tab on the FeedBurner website.

As long as you are going the FeedBurner route, replace the current RSS links on your blog with the FeedBurner link. This usually means digging through some code to find that link and replace it. I really can't go into details as it varies greatly by publishing platform and theme.

So Now You're a Serious Blogger

You have found your unique blog style, mastered the type of content you want to deliver, and gained some regular readers but you want even more. If you are still on a free blog, get rid of it! Even if it is a paid TypePad account, you still have a shared domain name (e.g., yourname.typepad.com). It is time for you to become independent and get your own domain and hosting.

Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn't be taken too seriously.
Jakob Nielsen

If you are open to hosting recommendations, a (gs) Grid Server plan from Media Templeis the perfect solution for the dedicated blogger. It is when you start receiving over 150k hits a month that you might consider upgrading your plan.

Getting To Know Your Readers

The next step is tracking your visitors, seeing where they came from, what they saw, and how they left. You will be able to easily assess what content your readers appreciate the most and concentrate on that aspect of your blog. Most webhosts include some type of stats monitoring applications such as the Urchin suite. However, I use Mr. Inman's Mintreligiously. The best part of Mint is an open API that lets developers create plugins called Peppers that dramatically extend functionality. I had previously posted an article about the top Peppers I use. It is definitely worth a look if you want to get a better idea of how great Mint can make your life. There is also a Mint Pepper for tracking your FeedBurner stats.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully my suggestions have helped out at least a few people. If you post guides or reviews on your blog that you think many people can benefit or learn from, I suggest posting a link on del.icio.us or Digg. If your page gets on the frontpage of Digg or on del.icio.us popular, you're set. Many tech websites have an email address for tips. If you think your content is worthy, I would try sending them an email with your article. You never know, they might post it. Even if they do not have a tips line, a polite email to the editor-in-chief or webmaster could do the trick. As a blogger, you really should not have any trouble talking to strangers... you practically preach to them everyday. While looking for companies to send me review products for my other website, I must have sent out over 150 emails. It is amazing what a nice email can get you. I gained a contact with at Akasa, who was kind enough to trust me and send some computer products for review after a few emails. Even at the lowest level you will establish some rapport between that company or person, which may help you out in the future.

Also, holding a contest can greatly boost traffic. Even if it is for a small thing such as aWordPress golden ticket, you will be amazed at how many people find out about it. You can establish a relationship with some of your readers, and they might link to your blog on theirs. Commenting on other blogs can also earn you a few hits if you put down your URL. Oh and how could I forget a de-lurking post to talk to those hidden readers of yours.

5 surse de trafic pentru blogul tau pe care nu le folosesti indeajuns

Una dintre ideile generale referitoare la blogging cu care sunt de acord in proportie de 100% este aceea ca mai mult trafic (mai multi vizitatori) inseamna mai multi bani. Este cat se poate de simplu si de evident: daca 100 de vizitatori iti aduc 1 dolar, e clar ca 200 iti vor aduce mai multi bani, iar 2,000 si mai multi.

Asadar, astazi va propun sa discutam despre 5 surse de trafic pentru blog pe care cu siguranta nu le exploatati la maxim (sau chiar deloc). Si cred ca nu va permiteti sa spuneti “NU” unui plus de cateva zeci – sau chiar cateva mii – de vizitatori!

1. Facebook

Toata lumea s-a mutat pe Facebook si este momentul sa va pese mult mai mult despre aceasta retea de socializare. Sa creezi o pagina de Facebook pentru blog nu este suficient insa pentru a aduce cat mai multi vizitatori pe blogul tau, desi este un inceput. Trebuie sa:

a) te implici direct in activitatea grupuli, sa raspunzi la intrebari, sa lasi impresia de persoana vie, nu robot care doar posteaza linkuri si atat.
b) mergi mai departe de pagia blogului de Facebook si sa dai share la articole pe wall-ul tau.
c) inviti prietenii, cunoscutii si necunoscutii sa dea share la articolele tale. Fii sigur ca, pentru asta, ai butoane vizible, la indemana, care sa faciliteze vizitatorilor promovarea continutului tau.

Nu toate tipurile de bloguri dau rezultate bune pe Facebook (un blog ca acesta despre bani pe net are slabe sanse sa devina un hit pe aceasta retea de socializare), dar merita incercat. Si 10 vizitatori in plus pe zi sunt buni!

2. Alte bloguri din aceeasi nisa

Cate bloguri din nisa ta urmaresti? Cu cati bloggeri din aceeasi nisa esti in contact? Pe cate bloguri populare, din aceeasi nisa, postezi regulat?Cu cat numerele sunt mai mari la intrebarile de mai sus, cu atat este mai bine. Comentariile UTILE (si repet asta: UTILE!) pot sa va aduca foarte multi vizitatori si multe alte beneficii pe termen lung.

Ganditi-va doar ca postati un comentariu pe un blog foarte popular unde s-a scris un review al unui aparat foto. Daca va scrieti o parere pertinenta care aduce niste plusuri review-ului postat, vizitatorii vor da click pe numele vostru pentru a va vizita site-ul, constienti ca vor gasi pareri pertinente si poate mai complexe decat pe blogul pe care sunt.

Postati 20 de astfel de comentarii si veti primi de 20 de ori mai multi vizitatori. Suna bine, nu?

3. Toate blogurile

Probabil una dintre cele mai utile, bine intretinute si bine intentionata comunitati de bloggeri din Romania - click aici sa ii vizitezi daca nu ai facut-o deja. Nu doar ca poti folosi acest site pentru a-ti promova continutul blogului (inclusiv la foc automat), dar poti cunoaste oameni din aceeasi nisa, poti invata lucruri noi si poti crea legaturi care sunt extrem de importante si in lumea blogging-ului.

4. Listele de genul “Top 10″

Topurile si articolele care prezinta liste de… orice au un imens succes, atata timp cat au legatura cu nisa blogului. Ideal ar fi sa nu mai existe altele asemanatoare deja scrise. Partea buna la acest gen de articole este nu numai aceea ca aduce utilizatori organici (din motoare de cautare, care vor sa gaseasca “cele mai bune ceva-uri”) ci si ofera un risc de preluare de catre alti bloggeri si postare pe site.

De exemplu, sun convins ca ati citi cu interes articole gen “Cele mai bune 10 metode de a face bani pe blog,” “Cele mai bune 10 Metode de a aduce mai multi vizitatori” si asa mai departe. Din start suna interesant si atractiv.

5. Prietenii, cunostiintele, bunica de la tara

In momentul in care v-ati lansat un blog, toata lumea trebuie sa stie despre asta. Asa ca fiti sigur ca toate persoanele pe care le cunoasteti stiu cum sa intre pe blogul vostru. De la parinti la rude indepartate, fiecare poate da mai departe blogul, rezultand intr-un efect de bulgare de zapada care se va sparge pe serverul vostru cu mii de noi vizitatori. Nu poti stii niciodata sigur de unde sare… blogul.

Si acestea ar fi, momentan cele 5 surse de trafic pentru blog pe care probabil nu le folositi indeajuns de bine. Probabil va urma si o continuare cu posibile surse de trafic ceva mai obscure dar care, puse una langa alta, pot aduce niste rezultate spectaculoase.

15 Tips to Increase Blog Traffic

The blogosphere is a big and busy world with over 100 million blogs and growing. How do you attract visitors to your blog? Follow these simple tips to drive traffic to your blog.
1. Write Well and Write Often
Frequently updating your blog with useful content is the first step to building your blog's audience. The content you write is what will keep readers coming back for more. Make sure you have something meaningful to say to them and say it often to maintain their interest and keep them loyal.
Furthermore, post frequently to increase the number of chances you have for your blog's content to be noticed by search engines such as Google or Technorati.

3. Use and Update Your Blogroll2. Submit Your Blog to Search Engines
Get on the radar screen for the popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo! bysubmitting your blog's URL to them. Most search engines provide a 'Submit' link (or something similar) to notify the search engine of your new blog, so those search engines will crawl it and include your pages in their results.
It's important to understand that simply submitting your blog to search engines doesn't mean your pages will appear at the top of a Google search results screen, but at least your blog will be included and will have the chance of being picked up by a search engine.
By adding links to sites you like in your blogroll, the owners of those blogs will find your blog and will be likely to add a reciprocal link in their blogrolls. It's an easy way to get the link to your blog in front of many readers on other blogs. The hope is that some of those readers will click on the link to your blog on the other blogs' blogrolls and find your content interesting and enjoyable turning them into loyal readers.
4. Harness the Power of Comments
Commenting is a simple and essential tool to increase your blog's traffic. First, respond to comments left on your blog to show your readers that you value their opinions and draw them into a two-way conversation. This will increase reader loyalty.
Second, leave comments on other blogs to drive new traffic. Make sure you leave your blog'sURL in your comment, so you create a link back to your own blog. Many people will read the comments left on a blog post. If they read a particularly interesting comment, they are highly likely to click on the link to visit the commentor's website. It's important to make sure you leave meaningful comments that are likely to invite people to click on your link to read more.
5. Syndicate Your Blog's Content with an RSS Feed
Setting up an RSS feed button on your blog makes it easy for your loyal readers to not just read your blog but also know when you publish new content.
6. Use Links and Trackbacks
Links are one of the most powerful parts of your blog. Not only are links noticed by search engines, but they also act as a tap on the shoulder to other bloggers who can easily identify who is linking to their sites. Linking helps to get you noticed by other bloggers who are likely to investigate the sites that are linking to them. This may lead them to become new readers of your blog or to add links to your blog from theirs.
You can take links to other blogs a step further by leaving a trackback on the other blog to let them know you've linked to them. Blogs that allow trackbacks will include a link back to your blog in the comments section of the post that you originally linked to. People do click on trackback links!
7. Tag Your Posts
It takes a few extra seconds to add tags to each of your blog posts, but it's worth the time in terms of the additional traffic tags can drive to your blog. Tags (like links) are easily noticed by search engines. They're also key to helping readers find your blog when they perform searches on popular blog search engines such as Technorati.
8. Submit Your Posts to Social Bookmarking Sites
Taking the time to submit your best posts to social bookmarking sites such as Digg,StumbleUpon, Reddit and more can be a simple way to quickly boost traffic to your blog.

10. Don't Forget Images9. Remember Search Engine Optimization
When you write your blog posts and pages, remember to optimize your pages for search engines to find them. Include relevant keywords and links but don't overload your posts with too many relevant keywords or completely irrelevant keywords. Doing so can be considered spamming and could have negative results such as your blog being removed from Google's search entirely.
Images don't just make your blog look pretty, they also help people find you in search engine listings. People often use the image search options offered by Google, Yahoo! and other search engines, and naming your images with search engine optimization in mind can easily boost your traffic.
11. Consider Guest Blogging
Guest blogging can be done when you write a guest post on another blogger's blog or when another blogger writes a guest post on your blog. Both methods are likely to increase traffic as your blog will be exposed to the other blogger's audience. Many of the other blogger's readers will visit your blog to see what you have to say.

13. Promote Outside Your Blog12. Join Forums, Web Rings or Online Groups
Find online forums, web rings, groups or social networking sites such as Facebook andLinkedIn where you can share ideas and ask questions of like-minded individuals. Add a link to your blog in your signature line or profile, so each time you post on a forum or participate in another online network, you're indirectly promoting your blog. Chances are many people will click on that link to learn more about you.
Promoting your blog shouldn't stop when you step outside the blogosphere. Add your blog's URL to your email signature and business cards. Talk about it in offline conversations. It's important to get your name and your blog's URL noticed offline, too.
14. Nominate Yourself and Other Blogs for Blog Awards
There are a number of blog awards given out throughout the year. Nominating yourself and other blogs and bloggers can draw attention to your blog and drive traffic to it.
15. Don't Be Shy
The most important part of the blogosphere is its community and much of your success as a blogger will be tied to your willingness to network with that community. Don't be afraid to ask questions, join conversations or just say hi and introduce yourself. Don't sit back and hope the online world will find you. Speak out and get yourself noticed. Let the blogosphere know you've arrived and have something to say!

How to Make Money Blogging

Unless you plan on getting paid to blog for others, the key concept to understand when trying to make money blogging is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). SEO is a crazy science of wizardry. It involves millions of factors that are so hard to understand and comprehend that I think we should leave it to the experts. And lets [...]

Unless you plan on getting paid to blog for others, the key concept to understand when trying to make money blogging is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

SEO is a crazy science of wizardry. It involves millions of factors that are so hard to understand and comprehend that I think we should leave it to the experts. And lets allow them to charge premium dollar for their efforts too. Really? … Well not so much. SEO isn’t really all that difficult. In fact I would go as far as to say that a lot of it is mostly grunt work, applied intelligently. So why do people think it is so difficult to understand how to rank in Google? Well the truth is that it isn’t that difficult to understand, and it certainty isn’t rocket science.Wouldn’t you like to know what the key factors are that determine what pages rank well in Google? Well the information is out there freely available, and you don’t have to buy some dick head’s Ebook to find out, lets take a look.

Key Factors for Ranking in 2011

• Keyword use in title tag
• Keyword use in domain name
• Substantive, unique content on page
• Keyword focused anchor text in links
• Quantity/quality of links
• Diversity of link sources
• Page specific trust rank
• Relevance of link sources
• Keyword specific anchor text from internal links

Source: Search Engine Ranking Factors

Keyword use in title tag

This one is straight forward and the most widely used SEO technique. If you simply include a keyword in the title of your page, you tell Google what the page is about. This will help that page rank for that keyword.

Keyword use in domain name

Domain names that have keywords in them will rank much more easily for a keyword than ones that don’t. It doesn’t mean your domain won’t rank well for any chosen keyword. But it may mean you need to build more backlinks to be on a level playing field. Believe it or not this site ranks on the front page of Google.co.nz for the keyword phrase “Make Money Online”. This doesn’t bring a huge amount of traffic because nz is small in a global search market. But it is still well worth the effort.

Substantive, unique content on page

Google loves unique content. And pages with lots of it, targeted to a keyword will rank better than those pages that may be similar in every other way, but lighter on unique content.

Keyword focused anchor text in links

For me I rate this the most important factor, but also the most hard work. To rank well for competitive keywords you are going to have to build links to your site that have your keyword as the anchor text of those links. I obviously want links aiming at this site with the phrase Make Money Online as that anchor of those links.

Quantity/quality of links

A lot of links aiming at your page or site is going to help you rank better. And a fewer amount of quality links will have the same effect.

Diversity of link sources

Having a site wide link on another site may help you rank a little, but to improve your site ranking you are going to need to build links from a variety of different sources.

Page specific trust rank

Does Google trust your site? Is it new? Or have you been around for a while. Google likes to sandbox new sites to avoid spam sites. This will stop them from ranking for a period of time. The longer your site has been around to more trust Google applies to that domain. As a result very old sites rank easily for competitive keywords.

Relevance of link sources

Relevance of links is important. If you are trying to rank for a term about Internet Marketing, You are going to want to gets links from other sites about Internet Marketing.

Keyword specific anchor text from internal links

This is something you can easily control, and it certainly does help. Think of it this way. Google doesn’t know what your site is about unless you tell them. You can tell them by including the relevant keywords to links around your site. The link at the top of this site has my main keywords in it. The links to different articles have keywords in them as I try to use keywords in titles.

Ok so that’s it. It doesn’t sound that hard. And the above list was agreed upon by 72 of the industries most influential SEO’s. So these factors are very close to fact rather than opinion. Obviously understanding SEO is one thing. Having the skills and character to be able to pull it off is another.