The Mystery Meat

[seanradio]

Ok – so you build a website and you hope for the traffic. Then you try to decide on how to get the site to all the search engines. But which search engines? Plus you need to choose your keywords. The first question is – how do any of the engines actually rank you? It seems the Internet is saturated with websites of almost anything & everything. Plus is one better off to spend $1000’s on someone who claims they can get your website ranked or does one just head over to some shareware site and purchase some type of web submitting software? The mystery meat is how to TOP rank you site without being a pain to everyone else.

Any ideas? As the bottom line is – I have some sites that need to be added to search engines + they need some traffic. So instead of pushing spam, posting on message boards, running link farms, spending money on TV or RADIO advertising – is there software that will work – or does a SEO need to be in place. Plus what is a SEO – I know what it stands for, but how different is that from just having this software that ranges from $20 to $800.

 

[ChrisHirst]

Phew!!!

Which search engines ? Google, Yahoo and MSN drive ~95% of all searches. With Google having the largest share.
Which keywords? Do some research with Wordtracker and Overture but bear in mind Overture suggestion are badly skewed by automated keyword checks and WT info is based on searches with the meta engines not the main SEs, so should only be used a a guide.

Be very aware that the SEO world is full of charlatans, chancers, scammers and downright liars. BTW it's not a black art as some would have you think, there are no "magic" formulas and anyone who claims to have a "special relationship" with the SEs are probably running PPC and passing it off as optimising.
Anyone who guarantees you first page results are either lying or using a phrase that the average 4 yr old could get rankings for and not a phrase that will get sales.

Forget about software, there isn't any been written that can really optimise a site, SEO is more about having a feel for the site and market place rather than a formula. Yes a formula could get you rankings. That is until the SE algo changes and you are back to square one again.

Depending how competitive your market is you may need to employ someone who knows the score.
What is a SEO? Someone how will improve your site for all visitors not just SE crawlers and get the site qualified traffic. Increased traffic is just that, traffic. What is wanted is traffic that leads to sales. No software is going to do that.

So instead of pushing spam, posting on message boards, running link farms, spending money on TV or RADIO advertising

Out of these only one is a good idea and can be worth the investment. I'll let you decide



Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
Nightclub counting systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[trollacious]

In my experience, a number of the places that "guarantee" rankings will get your site ranked in obscure search engines you never heard of, and neither has anyone else. Those are often prime targets for email address harvesters, so your only REAL results are a boatload of spam for the money you pay.

One place I worked for had a running joke about that kind of "guarantee". A guaranteed placement cost you $200, and if you weren't in the top 10 on at least Google, MSN, or Yahoo with at least one of your search terms, you got 50% of your money back. Normal search engine registration was $100. We did the exact same work on each site, just got paid twice as much for it if the site placed higher because of lower competition for the search terms, owner-supplied content got higher ranking, or for whatever other reason.

Other than that, I could only echo everything ChrisHirst has said.

Lee

 

[Kaycek]

I don't know a whole lot about search engines, however I do know of a website that seems to be on the up and up, and which should be able to help you. the address is

http://www.searchenginewatch.com

The author, Danny Sullivan, has been around writing this since the early 1990's, and he has a site where you can find a lot of information without a membership, or you can spend $99 (USD) a year to get more information.

He's a straight shooter, I've been on his e-mail list since the start, however, at this time I'm not doing any web sites, so I haven't taken out a membership. Even without the membership, there is a lot of valuable information!

I hope this will help you

kaycek

 

[ChrisHirst]

If you want a forum where you can learn properly without being talked down to by some of the mods and many members try HighRankings Forum and IHelpYou

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
Nightclub counting systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.