This post, is continuing with my series on, How to get traffic, I’m going to talk about how to rank in the search engines. This is the first part of the more basic SEO strategies. In the future, I hope to write a post on more advanced strategies.

 

 

First off, why do we even care about search engine traffic? Why must we change our site so much just for one traffic source? Do we really care? The answer is YES!!! for all three questions. There are three reasons, and I will list them for you.

 

 

1.

            There’s a potential for a lot of traffic

 

Like Digg and Stumbleupon, it can give massive amounts of traffic. Depending on the search term, you can even get more then digg and stumble. And unlike those sites, you don’t have to submit anything, or get votes time after time for every post, (though you will need links to your site,) google will automatically submit your posts, and give reviews of it. Because it is automatic, your site will rank for hundreds of terms, that even if they only give you a couple visits a week, they will add up into a great amount of traffic. Because of the sheer amount of people using google everyday, there is great potential for traffic.

 

2.

            The readers are finding what there looking for

 

 

Or at least they should be… If you rank for that term, then that means google deems your site relevant to that topic. So the great thing about this is, your always getting visitors, that want what you’re giving. It’s really nice, because then both parties are happy, both the reader and “you,” the writer. Generally that also means there in your niche, or are interested in it, so it improves your likelihood of comments as well.

 

3.

            It’s consistent

 

This is the best part about google traffic. If it’s a real search term, that a lot of people are looking for, then there will always be a fan base for it. If all your terms are very specific, and don’t get many searches, then of course your traffic will be sporadic But if you rank for a good term, then you will get consistent traffic. I have sites that make money, and get only one source of traffic, from search engines. Sites can survive purely on search engine traffic if you can get them to rank high enough. So now that I’ve wetted your appetite, on to the facts of how to do this.

 

 

There are four topics that I’m going to discuss in this article:  Blog Title, Post Title, Keywords and Meta Tags.

 

 

Your Blog Title.

 

 

If you look at the top of your browser it says my title, “How to get traffic,” that is not incidental. Your title tag, should be saying your top search term, the one your most trying to rank for. This is the most basic SEO thing you can know. If you ever visit a site that says, “Welcome to…” or the url of the site, then you know they know nothing about SEO. So now, if that is you, then it’s okay… don’t be embarrassed or anything, that’s the point of this post, just go change it now.

 

You may be wondering for your site, “What’s my top search term?” If that is the case, just think about the purpose of your blog, and then put it in six words or less, no more. Then, put that in as your blog title. If you don’t now how to change your title, comment with your blog hosting company, and I’ll try and help you. Now to review, Tip #1, have your title be your top search term.

 

 

Post Titles

 

 

Many people do not realize this, but your post titles, are a valuable SEO tool. The title is the term that you rank for in the search engines. Of course you also rank for a various combinations of keywords from your page, but the one you are always indexed for in google, is the title. So spend time, and make a title that people will search for. That is why I generally have my blog posts as, “How to…” Because I’m trying to both rank for the very competitive search terms like, “How to get traffic,” as well as get that type of readers. So to review, make sure you have a good, title that people will search.

 

 

Keywords

 

 

Keywords are very important as a follow up to a good title. When the spiders from google come to your site, they see the blog title and immediately begin putting your blog in a category, how high you rank in that category will depend on these four factors. But say for example, your blog title is, “How to make money online,” the google spiders, will see that, then look throughout the rest of your site, looking for any of those words, to determine it’s relevancy. Every time they see it again, it is better and better for your site. Also, write your main keywords, in bold, and italicized. These things tell the search engine, “Hey! This is important, this is what my post is about.” It’s like a more valuable keyword, then just the word or phrase. Now be careful not to spam your site. If you over optimized it with these keywords, your ranking will simply tank, so don’t go crazy with this. Just write it as you would for a reader, and emphasize your keywords with bold and italicize.

 

 

Meta Tags

 

 

These are kind of like hidden keywords. People don’t see them because there invisible, hidden in the html of the site. However, the search engine sees it and will categorize your site accordingly. Meta Tags tell spiders, what the site is about. These are essential to a good ranking, but to put these in, is different for every type of blog host. Some make it very easy for you,  and others make you actually have to go into the html. If your using wordpress like me, then I would recommend using semi-logic, it makes it really easy for you. But if your doing something else then they will look like this.

 

 

You simply post it, in between the Title, and ending head box. I would do it just at the top, directly below the title, so that the search engines see them faster. Also, if you noticed, there are two different types, “description,” and “keyword.” In the description box you should write a keyword stuffed sentence about your site, and in the keyword section, write all your keywords. So now, figure out your keywords, and then fill them into your site.

 

These four tips are all what’s called, “On Site Optimization.” Hopefully I will be writing a post on, Off Page Optimization in the future. I hope these suggestions can guide you on your way to becoming a successful blogger.

 

 

Jonanthan Muller

 

 

 Please stumble this post if liked it.