Secrets to Getting MORE Search Engine Hits

Chris Small

Every Website owner would like to get more traffic from the
Search Engines. But it's getting tougher and tougher to get
a good listing these days. There are over 2.1 Billion other
webpages and documents online right now. And that number
is growing by 7 million pages per day.

Most of us don't have the time or expertise to carefully edit
and reedit the keywords and meta tags for each engines
specific criteria.

In the past I had spent many hours tracking the words and
phrases that came up highest in the search engines. I then
valiantly attempted to work my site content, key words and
meta tags to reflect these words. The results were mediocre
at best. It seems that there were thousands and thousands of
other webmasters with exactly the same idea. It is extremely
difficult to get a top 20 listing for a very popular search word.

Until recently I had pretty much given up on expecting traffic
of any significance from the Search Engines.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert on Search Engine rankings. The
following information is strictly based on my own personal experiences
and those of a few friends. Even though these techniques have worked
well for me, it is possible that they may not be applicable to your particular
site.
There is nothing for sale here. This is purely for your own education.

An Accidental Discovery

Quite by accident I stumbled upon a technique that brings
in a LOT of Search Engine hits to my site.

I have created a small library of reports on Internet Marketing.
The intention is to assist website owners with their marketing
efforts. I wanted to provide a great source of relevant material
that would bring them back again and again. Ezine publishers
and other site owners were also encouraged to copy these
articles and publish them.

This does work quite well on it's own, but I've been noticing
that a lot of people are finding these reports from the Search
Engines. The hits are happening from obscure search terms
that most other sites aren't using. There's little competition
for them so my site gets a very nice ranking. Sometimes it's
listed in the number seven position, sometimes it's in the
seventeenth spot. It could even be a number three listing. In
some cases I've even achieved a number one ranking in a
few of the major Search Engines. This has been a very
pleasant bonus.

Keep reading, we'll be going into the specifics shortly. But
before we go too much further, let me explain that this
technique does not usually bring in thousands of hits. It can
however bring in hundreds of extra hits that a site might
normally not get.

What Web Searchers Really Want

When you go to a Search Engine, how many times are you
looking specifically for something to buy or for an affiliate
program to join? If you're like me that's not why you're at
the Search Engine. You're there to find information on the
topic of your interest - and it should be FREE!

Example:

Let's say that you want a Super recipe for Chicken Soup.
Are you going to search for a cook book? Not likely. You
want the recipe not the book. BUT, while you are reading
the recipe it is possible that you could be tempted to look
at a cook book for sale - or a cooking pot, or a set of oven
mitts, or ..... well you get the idea.

Your local supermarket has been doing this for years. You
go to buy a jug of milk and a loaf of bread and end up walking
out with a couple of bags of extra stuff and $60 less in your
wallet. They often price the milk at cost or less to get you into
the store but they know that the loss will be more than made
up for with your impulse item purchases.

Give them Content - and lots of it

If your site is about cooking, then put as much cooking
information as possible on your site. Put cookware reviews,
stove recommendations, healthy eating guides, microwave
tips, interviews with famous chefs, etc. You could even offer
other related information such as: wine recommendations
for certain meals, calorie guides, links to famous
restaurants, nutritional charts, etc..

Make it useful, relevant and valuable to your visitor. If they
are impressed, it is likely that they will come back and even
tell a friend or two about "that great new site that I just found".

Where can I get this Content?

No, you do not have to write all the information yourself.
Although if you can put together original content it is even
more effective.

Simply search around for top quality content by going to your
favorite Search Engines, ezines, libraries, magazines, books,
newspapers, etc. You can also get ideas for great material
by tuning into radio and TV programs that specialize in your
area of interest.

Always, always, always give credit to the source of the
information. Plagiarizing will often get you the wrong kind
of attention. For a good example of the ills of plagiarism
check out this article...
www.worlddealcenter.com/guides/integrity.html

Here are some tips that I have found to be especially helpful
in drawing higher rankings for your content pages.

1) Use High Interest words in the page title and first few lines

Even if you come up with a top 20 listing, you still must
compete with 19 other sites for that visitors attention. Give
them a good reason to click onto YOUR link.

2) Name Searches

Many web searches are done for peoples names. Historical
figures, modern day personalities, authors, big name
marketers, etc.. These get thousands of search requests. If
you can include in your site, book reviews and articles that use
famous names, you will see more visitors that might normally
never find your site.

3) Speaking of book reviews...

On my site I have a section devoted to selling books for
Amazon. As far as it being a moneymaker the thing is a
bust. It ain't working! Nobody is buying. So why don't I just
take it down and scrap the bookselling business?

Well, it brings in tons of hits from people who are searching
specifically for those books and authors that are reviewed
on my site. Okay, so they don't buy the book (the odd one
might though), but they do click through to other pages on
the site and sign up for my ezine and other programs.

These 3 suggestions have worked wonders for my stats
pages and ultimately the bottom line too. They certainly
won't replace your other marketing efforts, but can provide
a nice supplement to them.

About the Author

Chris Small is a cyber entrepreneur and host of several
successful websites. If you would like to read more articles
like this by Chris go to www.worlddealcenter.com/reports.htm