In the deep, dark world of Search Engine Optimization there are many companies who are willing to promise you the earth with guaranteed positions and quick results. Firstly, how do you know they can deliver the results you are promised, secondly, how can you be sure they are employing ethical SEO practices and thirdly, how can you trust a company who guarantees results in the first place?!

With this in mind we have put together this short guide to give you something to consider when employing your Search Engine Optimiser and with a little research and consideration you can be confident in your choice.

1.Can you guarantee me top position in Google? Any SEO company who promises you top position in any search engine is essentially guaranteeing you something that a third party (Google) has control over. Google indexes the site and only Google (or any other search engine) is responsible for ranking the site in top position. Your SEO companyshould be able to give you a ‘best estimate’ as to where they can get you, but guarantees are essentially a misnomer.

2. Can you show me proven results from one of your other clients? This question should be asked for almost any service that you are considering investing in. An SEO company who is worth their salt should have a proven track record of clients that they have achieved results for. Ask to see which search terms they have seen successes for.

3. Are any (or all) of these ‘proven’ results for ‘Easy Keywords’? You will come across companies seeming to have shown results for clients that, on the face of it, look to quite good. In this scenario, use your common sense. If these ‘good’ results are for a keyword like ‘Estate Agents’ then you are dealing with a company who know their stuff. If they are mainly or only for keywords like ‘Estate Agency in Cumbria who also sell dog chews’, then you can see that not many people will be typing this search term into a search engine, hence there is a hell-of-a-lot less competition to be at the top of this search and is pretty useless to you as the client to be found in position 1 for.

4. Does this company have an office? Look out for an office address; you may end up dealing with a one-man-band who won’t be able to dedicate his time to more than a few clients. An office address may indicate you are more likely to have an SEO team working to increase your rankings and can allocate more time to your company.

5. Do they run any ‘Black-Hat’ techniques? Always ask your SEO for a rough guide to how they will go about increasing the ranking of your site. Some companies will use ‘Black-Hat’ techniques to cut corners. This is frowned upon by Google and can result in you being essentially ‘thrown off’ the list altogether! An example of this is BMW. A good SEO team should always follow ‘best practise’ in order to increase your profile, this is known as ‘White-Hat’ techniques.

6. Where does this company rank for their own keywords? A clever-clogs approach to finding out if you are making a shrewd investment would be to find out if your SEO ranks highly for their own search terms. Try ‘Googling ‘ some of their keywords (click ‘View’ on your menu {next to File and Edit} and then ‘View Source’) and find out where they come up. If they are a new company it may take some time for Google to decide to index them, so keep this in mind. If they are ranked high in their own industry then it’s a good bet they’re not charlatans!

7. Does this company have a murky past? Check any company you are considering investing with for a financial check (Do they have any litigation coming up against them? Bad credit?). If they are trading under many names or have had to close down and start up again in the past, then you should probably run-like-the-wind, they could just be after your money without having customer service as a priority.

8. Do they have testimonials or a good reputation? A referral is probably the best way to know that you will get a good service with a certain company. Failing this, check to see if they have testimonials from other clients and possibly even contact them to find out how they found the service. A client who has seen a good Return On Investment (ROI) will usually jump at the chance to sing the SEO’s praises.

9. Will they meet you face-to-face? Meet the SEO team you are considering, they should be so confident in what they are doing that they would relish the chance to talk to you and let you know what they can do for you. This will give you a good idea of how the company works and may even instil some confidence that they actually exist and have business cards etc.

10. Are they promising you results in a week? Steer clear of any Search Engine Optimisation Company promising you ‘Top Results’ within a short period of time. Purely based on the fact that they have to wait for Google to re- index the site and don’t know when exactly this will be, this is tantamount to propaganda! Have confidence in an SEO who has a realistic plan for growth, you will start to see the results in a month or two but this is ultimately for long term status and some of your ‘weightier’ key search terms may take that bit longer as you have some good competition. When you start to surpass these competitors you know you have made the right choice.

Lynne Foster is the Technical Director at PoLR – a Web design, Search Engine Optimisation & Online Marketing Company in Glasgow.

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Search engine optimization is a technique used to achieve a higher ranking in the search engine, so as to generate a lot of free traffic to your site.

If your website is not ranked in the first couple search result pages, chances are, you are missing out a great number of visitors that could potentially become your customers. This would also deem your website completely useless; after all, what is the use of a published website that is not viewed by visitors and web surfers?

While SEO is an important technique that all webmasters need to employ in their sites, it is definitely not an simple task to do. Some big companies are even going to the extent of paying big amount of money to hire SEO company to optimize their sites.

For individual who do not have the budget and would like to do-it-yourself (DIY) with search engine optimization, here are some simple techniques which are easy to learn:

1. Provide valuable and informative content on your website

   For most web sites, content is the key. When writing the content of your web pages, insert vital keywords which relate to the products and services that your company offers.

   Make your content brief and concise, yet informative.

   Keep your facts up-to-date so that users will visit your web site more often. Do not forget to include a lot of helpful links, articles and guides that users can forward to another user and add to your customer base.

2. Make the overall design user friendly

   The design of your website should be simple, nice and easy to navigate. Do not design your web site in an overly-complicated way that users will find it too “frightening” to browse through.

3. Vary the keyword for each individual web page

   Think of every possible keywords or phrases that will apply to your products and services.

   Each user is different and may not necessarily use the keyword that you expect them to type in the search bar. Search engines offer tools which will guide you through finding the correct keywords for search engine optimization.

4. Include definitive and visible hyper links in your website

   Providing users with hyperlinks which are useful and easy to find is yet another way to optimize your web site.

5. Build incoming links to your site

   Enroll in a link exchange program and start to exchange link with other sites that are related to your industry.

   Write articles is also a good way to get free incoming links to your site. It can also help to build your reputation at the same time.

The above listed are only some of the few simple techniques used in Search engine optimization. The ‘One Page Search Engine Optimization Checklist’ offers more details and easy-to-read guide for serious webmasters who want to master the art of SEO.

Using the proper search engine optimization techniques listed in the checklist, you can definitely optimize your web site and yield very promising results for your business.

Damien is an Internet Strategist who specializes in search engine optimization for corporate. Check out his Internet Strategy Blog for more Internet strategy.

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Everyone who has a website… built it to be seen, right? I know I want to be rewarded for my expense, hard work, and time spent building a website and garnering site traffic. Well, here are some basics for building traffic that you would be wise to implement and learn about. It may seem difficult or complicated now, but in time you will see that these are very simple procedures to use to get site traffic. The wonderful thing is… did I mention that they are all free?

1. Blog Comments

2. Article Marketing

3. Forum Posting

4. Email Signature

5. Classified Advertising

I have a few basic notes about each method of building site traffic:

1. Blog Comments

Blogs are HOT! Search engines like words. Do a google blog search (they have a nice directory) and find the blogs with loads of site traffic. Leave relevant comments in them! Do this on a regular basis and you will not only look really smart, be considered as some sort of expert (unless you leave really stupid posts, which is possible, I suppose.) You get site traffic from posts.

2. Article Marketing

Article marketing has been referred to as ‘bum marketing.” Maybe because it’s free? This is a very effective way to get your site traffic moving. Other webmasters or business owners use your article on their site – this is free syndication – and your bio box at the bottom of the short article has a link back to your site. This helps you in the search engine, establishes you as an expert, and helps that website visitor find you if your information is interesting or relevant.

Another positive to getting site traffic from article writing or article marketing is that you can tailor the article as you wish and lead the reader to the bottom of the article where you could make a simple offer and many will, out of need or curiosity, click and buy. Especially if your article is interesting and informative. So if you enjoy writing little blurbs, put it in a word pad and submit it to article directories! Articles are like seeds. Planting takes some effort and time, but the reward is worth it!

3. Forum Posting

This strategy is really very easy to implement and it is free: sign up for a forum that is within your “niche” or interest and start posting! Be polite and sensitive to others, offering practical advise, solutions, and goodwill, and this will establish you as an expert. You should start to get tons of traffic through that. Your “signature file,” which will be at the bottom of each post, will identify you and your chosen link. Simple.

4. Email Signature

You send email right? You should have a signature that goes out with all of your correspondence. Look in the help section of your favorite email provider and they will give you instructions on how to create one. Remember we want site traffic and this is just a simple way (like a business card) that you can expose your business or product to others… and it too, is free. Granted you will not get “hordes” of traffic from this, but it is the professional thing to do. As you discipline yourself with these simple tasks you will build your business. “Even the trickle eventually fills the bucket.”

5. Classified Advertising

Most of you have seen online classified ads… this is how they work; Simply write short, snappy ads and post them up on Craigslist, US Free Ads and eBay Classifieds. These are hugely popular classified ad sites and you will get results. Now sit back watch your site traffic launch to the stars! Fast and free.

These are the time tested, and true ways to begin to get traffic to your sites… Everyone needs site traffic and you may need to use diverse traffic tactics to take you to a new level with your business website traffic goals. Begin building site traffic today.

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Despite the huge webmaster bias Alexa rankings are still considered the main way in which the popularity of a website is judged. A low Alexa Rank illustrates that your site isn’t particularly popular and it does negatively impact the chances of recruiting advertisers for your site.

As Alexa rankings rely on data gathered from users which have the Alexa toolbar installed they have a strong webmaster bias, with tech websites having their Alexa rankings hugely inflated. Knowing this there are a number of ways in which you can increase your website’s Alexa Rank:

1) Install the Alexa toolbar and set your site as your homepage.

2) If you have an office install the Alexa toolbar on all the computers and set your site as the homepage. Encourage your employees to do the same at home.

3) Put an Alexa widget on your website. When users click through to Alexa.com this will be tracked which will help to boost your Alexa Rank.

4) Encourage visitors to install the Alexa toolbar, perhaps through featuring the toolbar, adding a link to Alexa, or even promoting it in your email newsletter. If you manage to encourage only a couple of percent of your visitors to use the toolbar the effect on your Alexa Ranking will be huge.

5) Join webmaster forums. A high proportion of webmasters have the Alexa toolbar installed so participating in webmaster or online marketing forums and adding your site in your signature can be an effective way to inflate your Alexa Rank.

6) Submit your site to social media and bookmarking sites, such as Digg and StumbleUpon. Alexa toolbar usage is particularly high amongst these users, and as a consequence many click-throughs will give you a rankings boost. As a longer term strategy try to create power profiles on these sites and compliment this by creating link bait.

7) Try Alexa auto-surfs – search on Google for these and you’ll come across a number of sites which offer these programmes.

Write or blog about Alexa. This has two effects – it educates your users about Alexa and also attracts internet users who already have the Alexa toolbar to your site.

9) Many webmasters use the Alexa toolbar so try writing content which is targeted at them. Tools are also very effective and you don’t always have to design the tools yourself – comprehensive resource pages can be just as effective.

10) This is an offline tip which can be very effective. Pay internet café owners to install the Alexa toolbar and set your site as their homepage.

For more information about online marketing visit Marketing Minefield, where you can find out more about internet marketing and ways to drive traffic to your website.

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Are you a networking maniac? Do you jump at the chance to network with others? I’m not that kind of person for security reasons, however, when comes to LinkedIn, I’m all over it.

If you check out my LinkedIn profile, I have 1900+ connections. Going out to the third degree, the numbers are in the millions. How can LinkedIn help promote my website?

Before I get to the answer, let me just say that there are more reasons to have a professional profile on LinkedIn than site promotion. Site promotion is, however, an additional benefit.

YES!!! LinkedIn can help you promote your site. First, the professional profile will lend legitimacy to you and your company. Second, existing and potential customers will be able to link to you, therefore, allowing you to keep in touch with them and sell to them in the future. Finally, in building your profile, you have the ability to place links in your profile. Google indexes the public version of your profile, so the link pointing to your site will be picked up by Google. Link Juice will be passed to your web site because your profile will contain information related to your actual site.

There is, however, a special method for placing the link in your profile that will give you the most bank for your buck. The best way for your link to show up on someone else’s web site is with the keywords being the displayed text. The second best way is to have the URL name be the displayed text. It’s this method that you are shooting for on LinkedIn.

1. Click on the “My Profile” tab to modify your profile.

2. Click the text next to the Websites heading in order to add websites to your profile.

3. Instead of choosing My Website, My Company, My Blog, etc., choose Other:. By choosing Other:, you now have the ability to enter the text that is going to be clicked on in order to get to the website. Enter the website URL in the top box and the site URL, starting with http: in the box below it.

Currently, John A. Simpson is a Senior IT Professional, owner of Simpson Properties, LLC, a real estate investment company, and an avid blogger. He has over 22 years of IT experience and plans to continue his career in Internet-related IT.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?LinkedIn-and-Site-Promotion&id=1095613

A lot of website owners encounter almost the same problems. The difficulty on maintaining a continuous stream of visitors on their site. A good SEO (search engine optimization) of the site is one of the options. If your site has a good ranking on the search engines it would not be difficult to get the traffic that you need. The more visitors that you have the more chances of converting them into clients.

But with so many sites trying to be at the top of the search engines, an alternative method should be adopted. Even if your site appears on the first page of Google, Yahoo or MSN, a better approach should be used to influence the user to click or visit your site. There should be a convincing factor for them to immediately choose your site instead of choosing your competitors. The results page of a search engine will tell if a site can really attract more visitors.

Some experts would tell website owners with so many techniques and strategies that only make it more complicated for the business or an individual. It may also add too much cost for the business owner to implement all the strategies. Most of us sometimes forget to use simple approaches which are even more effective than those strategies which may only complicate the processes. Strategies that if not used properly may drive away visitors from the site.

Then, what is that strategy that will really attract more visitor and potential clients to your site? Use a simple promotional offer. Offer free items on your site. We know that every user regardless of ethnicity, religion or profession, will not decline or reject any free gift that you will be offering them. Free items need not be the expensive ones. Although, giving gifts of a higher value is not impossible. You can also look for a sponsor that will shoulder the cost of your promotion. Giving a free ebook is one of the best examples that can generate traffic to your site. You can even request other sites to contribute or provide you their free ebooks and other free stuffs. Free online games and free downloads of softwares will always have a greater impact to your visitors. What more if you can give free cosmetics such as perfumes or free clothing, gift certificates and even tickets to concerts and special events.

If you can’t offer these free items from your end, still there is no problem. You can have a tie-up with other sites offering free items. They will drive more traffic for you. So the next time you plan to implement a promotional strategy, always make use of this technique on your priority list. This is the most effective method at a cost that is manageable and affordable on your budget.

An example of this is http://www.lotsoffree.com which is a database of free online offers. They have a collection of various free stuffs and download from their free offers directory. It provides tons of great offers from different sites and businesses online. They have generated a lot of visitors because of free stuff that they are giving to the users.

Jun Mallorca is an internet marketer who writes on internet marketing techniques, strategies and new trends in marketing online.

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