A backlink is a link which directs others towards your site; they are also often referred to as inbound links (IBL’s). So, the number of backlinks that your site has is an indication of how popular or important it is according to your peers (other site owners). These are especially important for SEO, as search engines such as Google will give more credit to those sites with a good number of quality backlinks. So they will then consider these sites more relevant than others in the results pages of a search query.

Most search engines will want websites to have a level playing field, and so will more often than not look for natural links that have been built slowly over time. Although it can be fairly easy to manipulate the links on a web page in order to achieve a higher ranking, it is a lot harder to influence a search engine with external backlinks from another site. This is why these feature so highly in a search engine’s algorithm. Today it has gotten even harder to achieve these inbound links because of unscrupulous webmasters. Such people try to achieve these links by deceptive or sneaky techniques (through either hidden links or through automatically generated pages). Such pages are known as link farms and they are generally disregarded by search engines. But if you are linked to such a link farm, then you may find your site being banned entirely from these search engines.

Another way of achieving quality backlinks to a site is to entice quality visitors to come to yours.

As you will soon see, search engines are one of the primary ways in which internet users will find a particular website. So that is why a site with good search engine listings is likely to see a dramatic increase in the traffic that it receives.

Although everybody wants good listings, there are unfortunately many sites which appear poorly or not at all in search engine rankings. This is because they have failed to consider just exactly how a search engine works.

In particular, they forget that submitting to search engines is only part of the equation when you are trying to get a good search engine ranking for your site. So therefore, it is important that you prepare your site through search engine optimization.

This ensures that the pages of your site are accessible to search engines and are focused in such a way that they will help improve the chances of them being found by the search engine spiders.

So you need to remember these, as they will have an impact on the copy that you write for the content of your site.

So whenever possible, use short paragraphs or bullet points, as these are more likely to attract visitors, while more lengthy essays will only drive them away.

But if you are selling a service or product then you need to make your site look interesting. Provide as many calls to action as you can, and not just provide them with an online price list.

So remember that you are trying to attract the search engines, but your site should be designed first and foremost for human readers. As long as a site has been designed well with people in mind, then 9 times out of 10 you will find that it is search engine friendly also.

Just like a visitor to your site reads the copy on your page in order to figure out what you have to offer, so does a search engine. So when a search engine is looking at your page, they are looking for keyword phrases in your copy (Content).

Below are provided a number of tips which should help in your SEO using the content on your site.

1. You should have at least 200 words of copy on each page of your site. Although this may be difficult at times, search engines really like it, so it is important that you increase the amount of copy where you are able to. Generally speaking, once you surpass 1,000 words, the search engines will pretty much stop looking…so no need to get too long, unless the desired action you want from the visitor requires it.
This text, wherever possible, should include your most important keyword phrases, but should still remain logical and easy to read by visitors to the site.

2. Ensure that you use the phrases which you have used in the other tags on the pages during this part of the optimization process.

3. Add additional copy filled pages to the site, such as how to articles, tips or tutorials. Not only do these types of pages help with SEO, but you may find that other sites will link to yours.

Making a website attractive to search engines is a key factor for its success. One of the key ways in which to rank well with search engines is by optimizing the visible keywords on the pages. But in order to be successful in your keyword strategy campaign, you should use the following two steps.

Keyword Selection
You will need to determine what your pages are offering and also determine which words that your potential visitors might use in order to search for the pages of your site. You then need to create keywords which are based on those words.

For the full optimization of keywords on your site you should use between 3 to 5 keywords on the appropriate pages. It is vital that you start using them from the top left and then down. Many times you will find that this will be the first 200 words on each page of your site which will include the title tag, headings, abstract etc.

So the closer to the top left of your page the keywords are placed then the more weight they will be given by Google. Often, visitors will view your site in the same way that the search engine spider’s do, so emphasizing your keywords from the top left and down is a good way to design a site.

However, if your pages are already built, you may be thinking it is too late to select your keywords. But it’s not. It does not matter if you choose your keywords before or after the site has gone live (although it is better to do it before, as then you will not need to rewrite the text on the pages). But if it is live, then you may have the keywords, but they may not be the right ones. Yet they could be and you have not fully utilized their optimization value. So, if you wish, by using a thorough keyword selection process, you can make sure that they keywords you are using are optimized to their fullest extent.

Also, another issue where keyword selection is concerned is you need to determine whether the keyword is too popular or competitive. So if you find sites that are already competing for high rankings using particular keywords, then you may need to select more specific keywords instead. This can also be said for keywords which have several different meanings as well. Therefore it is important that you look how users will search for your pages, and which specific questions the content of your pages actually answers. So whenever possible, refine the keywords that you use in order to answer these questions.

But whenever you are refining your keywords, it is important that you keep in mind that a large portion of searches carried out on the net contain three words or more. So when people are searching for answers on the internet, they will often phrase their search term as a question. Therefore many people will not use search words that describe the solution to a question. So in order to optimize your pages to their full extent, it is best if you think like the person who is searching.

Check out the Competition
This is a great way of getting ideas, and you do this by carrying out a search using keywords that you already know, and that you would like to target. Then click through the top sites that come up as a result of this search. Then once on the site, view their source HTML code and view the keywords that they have in their Meta tags. But it is important that you remember to use those keywords which relate to your site or page. It is easy to view a sites HTML code, all you do is click on the "View"? button at the top of your web browser page and then select "Source"? or "Page Source"?.

By developing a list of keyword phrases, you should be able to optimize each page of your site for the search engines.

What you should remember is that Search Engine Optimization does not need to be complicated. What you should do is make sure that each and every page of your site is a unique entity, and needs to be treated in the appropriate manner where SEO is concerned. Below we provide you with some guidelines which should help you achieve your desired SEO results.

Get the Keywords Right
It is important that you make sure the selected words you use meet your marketing criteria. So do not pick words which are too general. Using words that are more specific will result in a higher ranking for your site. Also, it is important that you choose words which are suitable to your site. For example, you will find that "optimizing search engines" and "search engine optimization" have completely different rankings.

Include keywords in your Page Titles
Unfortunately, a lot of people will use either inappropriate names or their company name in the page’s titles. So it is important that you include the appropriate keywords in your title, as that is they way people carry out searches on the internet.

Inclusion of keywords in your Title Tags and Meta Tags
It is vital that, for each page of your site, you include the appropriate keywords within all the page’s tags. Also, take time to go over the Meta description that you use. You should make sure that any description you use is alluring and interesting to those who are visiting your site, and include keywords within it wherever possible. There are many search engines around today which use the Meta description as the thing that will be displayed in their search results.

Keywords in Content
It is important that you make sure you include keywords in the content of your site as well. But do not over do this, as too many will result in your page being discounted by the search engines.

Using these basic guidelines in relation to keywords in relation to search engine optimization and you will find that your site can not help but be affected in a positive way.

This is probably the most obvious, but certainly one of the most overlooked aspects of search engine optimization. This helps to make sure that search engine spiders can actually find (crawl) all of your site’s pages. But if they can not find them, then they won’t get spidered, and this means that they won’t get indexed. In fact, no amount of search engine optimization you try will help.

Below are some points that should be taken note of in respect of link structure for your site.

Spiders can not see links which are accomplished by JavaScript. This is because, as far as search engines will be concerned, they do not exist. So if you want spiders to follow the links on your site, do not use JavaScript. In fact, you will find that Google will not spider any URL if it looks like it has a session ID in it. So any URL’s that have a longish number or odd characters (such as a question mark) in them should be avoided (these are often dynamic URL’s).

It is important that you make sure that all pages link to at least one other page. Pages which do not link out are known as "dangling links". It is important that you structure the internal links so that targeted search terms are reinforced. So make sure that you organize your links so that your topic’s sub topic pages are linked to it (ensuring that you use the right link text that is specific to the page being linked to) and vice versa. See below for the different types of methods we mean.

Link Text some link text This is one of the 2 most important elements to ensure good rankings for a site. It can either be on pages within the site, or on other sites’ pages. But which ever way you do it, it is important that it is included. It is vital that you include the target page’s main search term in the link text. Also, whenever possible, do not use identical text for every link that links to a page. But if you can include the target page’s main search term in the link text instead.

In fact, links will carry more weight with search engines if the text around them is concerned with the target page’s topic and search term(s).

Title Tag some title words
This is probably second most important element in order to get good rankings for a site. It is important that you make sure the page’s search term is contained within this tag. So place it as near to the front as possible while ensuring that the title reads well. In fact, there is nothing wrong with you placing the search term up front on its own and then follow it with a period such as "Page Rank". Google Page Rank and how do I make the most of it? As you can see, the target search term here is of course "Page Rank". But what you should obviously do is make sure that each page’s title tag is different from the title tags on your site’s other pages.

Description Tag You will find that some search engines, such as Google no longer display the description like they use to. But no matter what, you should include this on each page for those search engines that do. There are even the odd times when Google will actually display them. So it is vital that you write a description that is appealing and incorporates the page’s search term into it at least once but preferably twice is better. So if you can, place one at the start or as near to the start of the description as possible.

Keywords Tag
It is important to remember that the keywords tag is never actually treated by search engines as keywords. They will be treated as text on a page. Although this tag is not effective as it used to be, there is no reason to leave it out. Instead, make sure that you put in plenty of relevant keywords and include the search term once at the front of the tag. Also, you do not need to separate keywords or key phrases with commas (as is often done) as search engines ignore these.

H Tag some heading words
The "n" in this tag represents a number from 1 to 6. The biggest heading is represented by 1. You will find that H tags are given more weight than ordinary text in a page, and so the bigger the H size, the more weight it will have. So it is important that you include your target search term in the H tags at least once on the page, but if possible two or three times is even better. Also place your first H Tag as near to the top of the site page as possible.

Bold Text
This gives more weight to a page than ordinary text, but not as much as an H Tag does. So where ever possible, enclose the search term in bold tags occasionally where it appears on the page.

Normal Text
Whenever possible, use the search term as often as you can on the pages of your site. But ensure that they do not detract from how the page actually reads. Ensure that you use the term once or twice in the very early pages of the body text, and then as often as possible throughout. If you need to, reword small parts and add sentences to ensure that the search term is well represented in the text for good search engine optimization.

But you will probably find that each word you have in your search term will be found separately on the page. So, if you need to, add a few of them throughout the page.

Alt Text
Include your search term in the alt text of all images on your pages. It is important to remember that some systems, such as those used by Braille readers and speech synthesizers, use the alt text. So it may be advisable to make them usable while including the search term.

So in summary what you need to do is as follows:-
1. Select the main search terms you wish to use.
2. Allocate these search terms to a suitable existing page, and if you need to, split pages.
3. Organize your internal links, and then link text, to suit the target search terms and their pages.
4. If you can, organize those links from other pages to suit the target search terms and their pages also.
5. Now organize all the on page elements in order that they suit each page’s target search term.
6. Finally, now sit back and watch your site’s page rankings begin to improve.

Whether you’re just starting a new business, or currently have one, it’s important that you continue to generate business growth by following five key points. When you focus on the growth of your online business, no matter how successful you already are, you guarantee future profits, further expansion, and continued achievement.

There are some are key points that you need to pay attention to and implement in your business so that you can ensure the further success of your business. These five key points include:

• Build your customer database. Make sure that you use a variety of methods to build your customer database. The more leads that you have the more profits you’ll achieve.
• Research your target market. It’s important that you have a clear idea of who your target market is. Take the time to research who your competitors are for the products or services that you’re selling.
• Deliver what you promise. Don’t make false promises to your customers that you can’t follow through with. Promising certain products, services, or special deals to lure in people means that you have to follow through with the delivery so that you gain the trust and respect of your customers.
• Have a definite business plan and goals. Make sure that you have a solid business plan so that you know exactly what path you need to take to reach your goals and how long it will take you to get there.
• Advertise and reach your customers. You need to reach your customers so that they can see what products and services you have to offer. Advertising can take place on or off the Internet using newsletters, e-mail automation techniques, or by following leads that are provided by your existing customers.

By including the above five key points in your day to day business practices you’ll find that your online business continues to grow in its success.

R. Agi Sagita G is the webmaster of www.rw5.org and www.infokarawaci.net.
Copyright clause: distribution allowed with the author's name and website link.

Your website design development is one of the most central phases of your strategy to establish your position in the market. Without a strong and constructive design you fail to reach the customers necessary for your achievements. The development phase consists of several phases that include:

• Final review of website design.
• Branding
• Development of specific business divisions, such as e-commerce and website.
• Testing
• Taking your website live

There are specific partitions that need to be developed before your web existence and business strategy is ready to go live on the Internet. Once these partitions have been developed your company is ready to reach your customers and secure your position among your competition. Partitions that need to be developed require unique techniques.

Website development: Develop a web presence that is based on your business branding and design. The combination of all three elements will reinforce your online business strength: branding, design, and website development.

E-commerce development: A constructive and easy e-commerce experience is significant for capturing the confidence and self-assurance of your customers. This includes all aspects of e-commerce: product database, product display, security, and shopping cart.

Marketing strategy: The advancement phase is the prelude to your marketing strategy. Marketing requires a strong and solid development phase from which to have a triumphant launch.

The development phase of your business strategy should be as meticulous as possible before you go live with your website. The more safe and sound the multiple divisions of your company existence are the more success you’ll maintain.

Your Business Design
Developing a design for your business that augments your image and reinforces your web presence is critical to the success of your business. Your aim is to create a design for your company that you can use across the board: advertising, branding, e-commerce, and web distinction.

The final result of the design procedure is the level transition between all facets of your company exposure to your customers. You want a design that is outstanding and recognizable, and that suggests confidence and reliance from your customers.

There are several strategies that you need to build up in order to accomplish a successful design, design strategy and the design itself. Design strategies include:

• Logo and company identity. Devise a company logo that is introspective of the image you want to portray to your customers.
• Web design. Develop a web design that is revealing, simple to navigate, and impressive to visitors.
• Successful e-commerce. Create an encouraging and easy e-commerce experience for your customers.

Design strategies include:

• Simple Design. Create a design that is uncomplicated and crisp for ease of recognition.
• Bold. Your design should be daring and clear-cut about the statement you want to make yet simple enough to lure customers to involve themselves in your web pages.
• Interactive. The design of your company should be completely interactive linking the visual communication with your customers and your web presence.

Once you expand your company design you’ll soon see a noteworthy return on the investments that you’ve made, as you reach customers and build up your place among the competition. Design is all about reaching your customers and interacting with them in a way that gets their consideration so they don’t forget who you are.

Make sure that you have strategies in place that apply successful and affirmative branding for your business. Some strategies that you should keep in mind include
(1) having clear and accurate goals, and know what it is that your company stands for,
(2) have a mission announcement that is strong and definite so that you know exactly where your business is going and how you want to get there,
(3) be single-minded and unvarying in the way you deal with your customers so that they know what they can expect each time that do business with you, and
(4) remember that branding is all about reaching your customers and staying in contact with them.
The bottom line is that branding allows you to sell your products or services to customers in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd of competitors that are each looking for their share of Internet business.

Your Internet Image: When you’re developing a company representation it means that you’ll be creating a “character� for your company that customers can recognize with and want to do business with. The individuality of your company will be a blend of many things, such as the facts of your business, the aims of your business, the style of advertising that you choose to use, and the history of your business. All of these basics will tie together to leave a lasting sense on your customers that can make the difference between the success of your business or its failure. You want to leave a affirmative and lasting impression on the public and your potential customers.

Many large and flourishing companies have worked hard to develop their company image. Part of this illustration is having an image, or brand, that customers can recognize.

Developing your company representation means that you need to identify many parts of your business that include:

• Knowing just who your target market is and how to reach them.
• Developing a company image that is constant and revolves around your target market.

R. Agi Sagita G is the webmaster of www.rw5.org and www.infokarawaci.net.
Copyright clause: distribution allowed with the author's name and website link.

Many Internet Marketers and Webmasters are trapped in a false paradigm that they rely only on what is publicly known as "Search Engine Optimization" in achieving their marketing goals. And just as many of these them are coming to realize that SEO is not the only way to draw the attention of their customers and potential customers to join their online business.

Successful Branding
Successful branding is all about one thing: acknowledgment from your customers. When your customers can recognize your product or service, and detach you from your competition, you’ve already taken the first step towards grabbing their notice. Branding uses several methods to ensure that your name is out there at the top and that your customers can pick you out from the crowd. Branding has one goal: to gain the confidence of your customers so that they stand by you.

You want to develop branding for your online business that sends a clear meaning in one straightforward package. And you want that brand identification to be an expression of your business and personal style. There are several methods that you can include into your branding strategy to gain recognition for your company.

There are several different techniques of branding that you’ll want to consider when you’re developing website pages so that they are readable and easily understandable by all your web visitors:

• Visual communication. Create a company logo which is displayed on your packaging and the visual communication you use with your customers. This includes brochures, business cards, catalogues, stationary letterheads, and other marketing media.
• Creative packaging. Develop packaging for your products that is specific and outstanding to customers.
• beneficial ad campaigns. Take advantage of all media exposure by positively and importantly boosting your public profile.

The approach for successful branding is to keep it simple so that probable customers aren’t put off by the audacity of your logo. The strategy for successful branding includes:

• Develop a strong mission statement. Know exactly where your company is going and how you want to get there.
• Define company goals. Be clear on what your business goals are.
• Branding is for your customers. Branding is all about your customers and not about what you sell.
• Dependable marketing tactics. Customers want reliability and simplicity when they identify your product or service.

The end result of successful branding is being able to sell your products or services along with positive recognition from your customers. It’s this positive recognition and obligation to your business that develops the strong relationship that you have with your customers and creates profits.

There are many companies both on and off the Internet that use branding successfully so that you can easily recognize them and so that they are a bigger name than their competition. These names have become trusted among consumers throughout the world. With so much business action that is now found on the Internet more online businesses are using branding to have their customers find them and remember them. When it comes to your own online business you need to learn how to use branding in such a way that your service or product stands out among the many Internet websites that are all vying for attention and customers.

Branding is a mixture of inspiration and the type of connection that you’re going to have with your customers. The resourceful part of branding is all about the logo (or other branding that you choose to use) and the way that you market on the Internet, and off the Internet, using this logo. The affiliation part of branding is all about the way you make your customer feel when they arrive at your website. You want your customers to feel that they can trust you, and your product or service, so that they generate a sale for your business. The bottom line is that branding offline and online is all about:

• How your product, or service, looks whether it’s viewed on your website or on a shelf in your brick and mortar store.
• How your customer feels when they arrive at your website.
• How you deal with customer orders
• The reliability and trust that you earn with your customers using a mixture of branding and successful Internet marketing

Developing your own branding for your business is a key step when it comes to the success of your company. This means that you need to spend value time coming up with the right branding for your products and services.

Market Research
One of the most unbeaten ways that you can find out what customers want to buy, and find out more information about, is to do market studies. When you watch and listen to what it is that customers are interested in, you raise your chances of getting their attention and giving them the information that they are searching for.

Take some time to carefully check the products and the services that you’re offering on your website or through your website. You should be asking yourself include
(1) what are the rewards and disadvantages to your business of selling or advertising online,
(2) will you take payment online,
(3) what details will you have to consider about shipping your product to customers, and
(4) are you willing to constantly update and keep up your website.

When you have an obvious business idea in mind, and know exactly what it is that you’re selling, you’ll want to find out what other businesses out there offer the same product or service. You might want to talk to potential customers to see how they react to your product.

Find other websites that are related to your business and take some time checking them out. Look at how they endorse and market similar products or services as well as how each website is laid out and navigated. If a similar website uses a shopping cart for online purchases check it out. See how smoothly the process works and what can be done to perk up the process. Don’t just look at e-commerce sites that are within your own country since customers won’t limit their shopping to those countries where they live. Look at the way other countries handle e-commerce websites so that you have a broad spectrum of websites to compare yours with.

Here are some things that you should be asking yourself when you’re doing market research for your online business:

• Who are your probable customers?
• What other businesses sell the same products or services?
• Who is going to be your objective market and how are you going to reach them?
• How much will it cost you to market, manufacture, and deliver your product or service?
• Who is your competition?
• How much can you fairly charge for your product or service?

What Are Customers Buying: There are many ways that you can find out what customers are buying both from online businesses and from brick and mortar businesses. Once you find out what customers are buying you can concentrate your website content and articles on what your mainstream customers are looking for.

Some of the ways that you can find out what people are buying include:

• Check out the malls. Go to a shopping mall and sit for awhile. Make note of the shopping behaviours of those people who are around you.
• Establish what stores have all the action. Watch to see which stores have the most consumer traffic. Take a look inside to see what is being sold, how it is being sold, how much it is selling for, and how the product is being marketed.
• Take a look at advertising and marketing. Although you may not be selling the same items as those stores in the mall you should still a look at what makes these stores stand out among the rest. How are the products grouped together in the store? How is the product being advertised.
• What you find out from brick and mortar stores can be applied to your online business. Learn what works when it comes to advertising online. Find out what is visually appealing for consumers that makes them want to buy that particular product.

R. Agi Sagita G is the webmaster of www.rw5.org and www.infokarawaci.net.
Copyright clause: distribution allowed with the author's name and website link.

A successful online business requires a trusting relationship with your customers. When your customers know that your online business is reliable and honest they’re more likely to buy products or services from you, rather than from your competition. But it’s up to you to let your customers know that you’re a better choice than your competitor. One way that you can get those important sales is by building up e-mail lists so that you can communicate on a regular basis with your customers.

Never miss an opportunity at communicating with your customers. It’s vital to your online company that you come into contact with as many customers and potential customers as possible so that you increase your contacts and eventually increase your sales.

There is so much competition on the Internet and this is why it’s important that you stand out for your customers. When your customers know that they can rely on you for dependable service, consistent communication, and quality products or services, they will continue to buy from you time and time again. Your repeat customers will become the mainstay of your business since it’s these repeat customers that refer you to their friends and family, thus bringing you more potential customers.

Opt-in Lists: An opt-in list is list of people who have specifically asked to receive more information from your business in the form of e-mail, newsletters, or other types of communication. These people will voluntarily give you their e-mail address to you so that you can communicate with them in the future. Make sure that you build your list of opt-in e-mail addresses so that you can increase the number of customers that you come into contact with.

Online marketing studies show that opt-in e-mailing lists are more successful than other marketing techniques when it comes to sales. When a potential customers requests more information from your business you know that they already have an interest in the product or service that you’re selling.

So how do you develop your opt-in e-mailing list? One way that you can start building your e-mail list is by having a place on your website where users can leave their e-mail address.

When you have someone’s e-mail address it’s up to you to send them an e-mail that is about the products or services that you’re selling. Some of the e-mail that you might want to send to your e-mail customers include:

• Newsletters with information about the product or service you’re selling, such as information about new products. Newsletters have already been discussed in chapter 5.
• E-zines that have detailed information about what your company sells.
• Discount offers that your send out to only those people on your opt-in list.

The first e-mail that you send out to people on your opt-in list should let them know that they asked to be included on your e-mail list so that they don’t think that they are being spammed. As mentioned before, always give people the option to take themselves off your e-mail list at any time. This way they feel that they are in control of all communication with you.

The Importance of List Building
One of the most important rules of online marketing is the need to have a list of opt-in e-mail addresses. The larger your e-mal list the more successful your online business will be. The bottom line is, if you want to have a successful online business you need to have an opt-in e-mail list.

Many online businesses overlook the other benefits of an opt-in list besides the bottom line of profit. Each time someone buys something from you, you need to make the effort of obtaining their e-mail address. If you don’t get your customer’s contact information you lose all chance of future communication with them. And this may prevent them from buying from you in the future.

Online marketing studies show that successful online businesses think of their opt-in e-mailing list as their most valuable marketing strategy. Most online businesses keep a back up of their e-mail list so that there is no chance of losing it. Without this e-mail opt-in list your business would lose valuable customer communication which is the backbone of their online success.

The more extensive your e-mail opt-in list is the more advertising you’ll generate for your online business. You’ll have sales opportunities from your e-mail opt-in list that you wouldn’t be able to obtain in any other way. When you regularly stay in touch with your customers you ensure that at least some of them will return to your website for a first purchase or a repeat purchase. E-mail opt-in lists let you communicate with your customers with little or no effort on your part.

Make sure that your online website has opt-in options on every web page. This way people who read your website have every opportunity to give you their e-mail address for future contact with your company.

R. Agi Sagita G is the webmaster of www.rw5.org and www.infokarawaci.net.
Copyright clause: distribution allowed with the author's name and website link.