Is your web site search engine compatible? Despite all the misinformation out there, it’s very easy to design a web site that search engines will love. All you need to do is follow 3 simple steps:

1) Obey the Search Engine Guidelines

Nearly all search engines publish their own guidelines regarding the submission of sites, the type of sites they will accept and recommendations for optimized content. Google recently updated their Webmaster Guidelines which cover the most common forms of deceptive or manipulative search engine behavior that they consider to be ’spam’. They also published SEO Guidelines“ advice for webmasters to heed when choosing an SEO. Google was the first search engine to publicly acknowledge search engine optimizers in this fashion.

It’s not just Google publishing anti-spam guidelines. You’ll find them at the following search engine sites as well:

Yahoo terms of service
Yahoo guidelines on search engine spam (covering AltaVista and AllTheWeb as well)
Yahoo definitions of search engine spam (covering AltaVista and AllTheWeb as well)
Yahoo content guidelines
MSN Search webmaster guidelines
AltaVista terms of use (AltaVista is a Yahoo-owned company)
Ask.com terms of service and spam policy
Ask.com editorial guidelines

2) Don’t Use Spammy Search Engine Tactics

Often, webmasters will use search engine spam techniques without even being aware that they are doing so. Or worse, web designers can - advertently or inadvertently - integrate techniques that could cause a site to be penalized in the site’s rankings in one or more engines, without the site owner’s knowledge of such penalties. The key to avoiding spamming the engines is research.
Keep track of the various search engine guidelines via the links above. Watch for any changes they make to these guidelines and tweak your site accordingly. Trawl the various webmaster and search engine forums regularly to ensure your site doesn’t use any of the latest optimization methods that appear to be penalized. If you suspect your site has been penalized, remove the offending content, contact the engine concerned and ask to be reinstated.

Google actually encourage you to file a re-inclusion request via their Help Center and this post by Google staffer Matt Cutts outlines what should be included.

Alternatively, here is a sample email template you can use instead:

——————————————–
Sample Re-inclusion Request Email

Dear [search engine name],

I am the owner of [your site URL].

I did not realize that participation in [spammy method] and
[spammy SEO name] programs could cause problems for my website. I was
assured that these techniques were search-engine-friendly by [your source for using spammy method].

I now understand that the practices used are not acceptable. I apologize for having allowed them to be placed on my website. I’ve removed the questionable pages and links from the site. I promise not to repeat such mistakes.

I am asking you to please consider reinstating my website,
[your site URL] into the [search engine name] Index.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
——————————————

To assist them to provide a high quality service, search engines encourage people to report search results they are dissatisfied with. If you spot some content spam or techniques that are clearly in breach of the search engine’s public guidelines, you can report it using these links:

Google spam report or via search-quality@google.com

AllTheWeb relevancy problem report (AllTheWeb is a Yahoo-owned company)
AltaVista search results manipulation report (or via Yahoo’s spam report)
Yahoo spam report
Ask.com spam report or via information@ask.com

3) Build Sites for Visitors Rather than Search Engines

The methodologies may have changed over the years, but the same principles have always applied to “good” or “white hat” SEO. Build sites for humans, not search engines. Make the site as user friendly as possible, avoid the bells and whistles and include high quality, relevant content.

Wherever possible, include text-based content and navigation menus with simple, descriptive, well-written copy designed to convert your visitors into customers. Include keywords and phrases your audience would logically type in to search engines to find sites like yours. Only link to sites that are relevant to your target audience and spend some time on usability, making sure all your forms and shopping carts work.

Remember that what pleases a visitor is almost always what pleases a search engine too.

Traffic is the most popular subject in Internet marketing.

It doesn’t matter how good your sales copy is, you will eventually live or die by the traffic you generate to your web site.

If you have no traffic, you have no sales. There is no way around it.

So what’s the best way to generate traffic?

Everybody seems to have an opinion on the subject. Everywhere you turn there is another “Startling Discovery” of how to drive millions of visitors your way.

For only $100 you can have 100,000 visitors sent your way…

But the question is…what kind of traffic do you want?

Do you want visitors who just pop-in and pop right out? Or are you looking to attract targeted hungry customers and buyers for your products and services?

Well, if you’re serious about making money, you want real visitors who are ready and willing to buy your products and services.

You’re simply not going to get this kind of visitors by joining the hot “traffic generation” technique of the month.

There always seems to be a NEW thing that everybody jumps on…and you see published in a majority of ezines. People will jump on it this month, tire of it, and then be on to something new next month.

I’ve been doing this business for 7 years now and although things do change quick, I’m still using many of the exact same strategies I did way back when I started.

Some of those techniques are the ones I want to share with you today. These are the techniques which have worked for years, and will continue to work for years to come.

They are not fly-by-night opportunities. They are real…and they can and will generate traffic for you TODAY and for years to come.

They may not be exciting, but they work! And that’s the point of this business. Who cares what’s the most exciting and most talked about? We only care about what earns our business the most profits.

Traffic Method #1 - Joint Ventures

You have a product. You find people who already have the hungry customers you’re seeking.

The most common form of joint venture online is the affiliate program. You set-up the software and you can instantly handle thousands of affiliates selling your products and services for you.

You’ll find that a large number of the people who teach Internet marketing use their affiliate programs as their primary selling tool.

Simply find large ezines or high traffic web sites in your niche market and partner with them.

Offer them a percentage of the profits varying anywhere from 10% to 75% of the selling price. It’s absolutely no risk to you whatsoever, because you don’t spend a penny on marketing until a sale is made.

A good program to use for your affiliate program is here:

http://www.netofficetoolbox.com

Traffic Method #2 - Pay-per-click Search Engines

You don’t pay for traffic with these search engines unless their visitors click on and visit your web site. So you’re paying for real guaranteed highly qualified visitors to your web site.

The ones I like best are:

http://www.google.com
http://www.overture.com
http://www.sprinks. com

The key to using PPC search engines effectively is coming up with hundreds or even thousands of possible keywords. You’re looking for keywords which have decent traffic but very low bids.

You don’t want to be spending $1 or more per visitor if you haven’t tested your web site to produce that kind of income already. So you have to avoid the most popular keywords and find a lot of less used ones.

Traffic Method #3 - Content Web Sites

The poor content web site has been attacked, made fun of, and ignored for years. A content web site is one with lots of content on it including: ebooks, articles, and even a discussion board.

This is the exact opposite type of site from a mini-site. A mini-site is a web site with only a page or two and focuses just on a sales letter. A customer either buys or doesn’t buy. No other choices are offered to them.

The majority of my web sites are designed in this fashion. They are mini-sites and all they contain are a sales letter and order form.

Content sites have a place. They can be used to draw traffic and visitors. People will link to a content site. Search engines will index a content site much easier than they will a sales letter.

All this traffic can be produced for free (although you will do a lot of work to produce the content).

Then you can get these visitors to sign up for an email newsletter OR drive them to your mini-site sales letters. The content site is never the purpose of your business. It is just a traffic generating mechanism that you use to push visitors to your sales letters.

Bonus Traffic Method - Offline Advertising

Print media has been taking a major hit in recent years from a loss of advertising revenue. Advertising in printed publications and through direct mail just isn’t as popular anymore because they weren’t as exciting as the Internet.

That’s changing.

Webmasters are finding out that they can drive qualified buyers to their web sites using offline advertising. And those visitors captured offline are worth much more than their average online surfer.

They’re also discovering that sending postcards and direct mail pieces to their online buyers is resulting in significantly more sales than simply email follow-up alone.

So you make money offline…by driving offline visitors online…and then contacting online buyers offline.

Keyword density. When it comes to SEO copywriting, this has to be one of the most talked about subjects. Why? Because keywords are the very foundation of search engine copywriting. Without keywords we wouldn’t even have SEO copywriting. Because keywords (or more accurately, key phrases) play such an important role in search engine copywriting, it might make sense that there are certain rules and regulations - certain formulas - that should be followed. It might make sense, but, I’m sorry to say, the mystery… the magic… is more like a myth.

I have a guess as to where these magic formulas come from. Someone brags to their friend that they got #1 ranking for a particular key phrase. The friend studiously looks over the site and starts taking notes. “He used this phrase eight times in a 500-word piece of copy. He put the keywords in here and there and over here, too. That means you have to put key phrases in these places and reach a keyword density of 1.6% in order to get a #1 ranking.” Not so! Let me explain why keyword density formulas don’t fly.

Copywriting Is One Piece of the Search Engine Optimization Formula

Copywriting, in my opinion and the opinions of respected search engine optimizers, is 1/3 of the puzzle; but there are other pieces to the puzzle, too. What about coding and linking? Those are two extremely important factors that also come into play.

*IF* copywriting were the sole factor, then maybe - just maybe - keyword density formulas might be a reality instead of a fable. But alas… it isn’t.

Keyword Density Formulas Are Unproven

Go to any search engine. Type in your primary key phrase. Look at the results that fall into the number one through five slots. Do they all have the same keyword density? No. Some have higher levels, some have lower levels.

If keyword density formulas were carved in stone, every single site in the top 10 would have the same keyword saturation levels. But alas… they don’t.

All Key phrases Aren’t Created Equal

Think about the competitiveness of the various key phrases on the Internet. You have some like “search engine marketing” that are exceptionally competitive. Then there are others like “sushi restaurant in Charlotte, NC” that aren’t. You have to account for how many other sites you’ll be battling with when you write search engine copy.

Positioning of Key phrases

In addition to the number of times a key phrase is used, you need to pay attention to *where* your key phrases are used. While it has not been proven to my knowledge, it is strongly suspected that key phrases that have special formatting carry additional weight. By special formatting I mean bold, italics, in bulleted lists, in tags, etc. As I said, this has not been proven. Again, go to your favorite search engine and type in a key phrase. If formatting and positioning were a carved-in-stone rule, all the sites in the top 10 would be using these tactics. But alas… they aren’t.

Why the Myths?

I understand why people want formulas. Having hard and fast rules to follow means, if you apply the formula, you know you’ve done the job right and you can’t fail. The problem is there isn’t just one right way to create search engine copy. There are as many ways to write SEO copy as there are sites on the Web.
What DOES Work?

So after I’ve dashed your dreams, the least I can do is give you some insight into how *I* write SEO copy. I don’t do any or all of these in any particular order. I don’t do them all every time I write. I am NOT saying that you should do all of these things every time you write.

1) If possible, I try to include key phrase(s) in the headline and sub-headlines. If it doesn’t make sense, if it sounds odd, I don’t include them.

2) When it flows, I include key phrases roughly once or twice per paragraph. Do I count words? Do I run keyword density ratios? Never! I just eyeball the page to see if it looks right.

3) This I do EVERY time I write… I focus on natural language. If the copy sounds forced or stiff after including key phrases, I scrap it and start over. Read your copy out loud. If it sounds stupid or redundant to you, it will sound stupid and redundant to your site visitor. Don’t compromise the flow of natural language for the sake of search engines. What good will number one rankings do if - as soon as visitors get to your home page - they click away because the copy is so awful? All the number one spots in the world won’t pay your grocery bill. You ultimately have to have sales and that means winning over your human visitors.

4) If possible, I try to include key phrase(s) in bold, italic, bulleted lists, or in other text that is specially formatted. If it doesn’t make sense, if it looks funny or sounds odd, I don’t include them.

So that’s it. Are those feelings you had when you learned there wasn’t a Santa Claus or Easter Bunny coming back? Sorry. I truly am. But it’s for your own good. If you’re going to be an effective search engine copywriter, you have to learn the truth. Relying on myths will only hold you back. Now pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get moving on that next number-one-ranking page.