We are often asked about Search Engine Optimization so here are some tips and tricks from the experts at IBP (www.ibusinesspromoter.com).

 

Find the best keywords

Keywords for browsing

During the first research phase, web surfers use general keywords to find information. For example, a web surfer might be interested in an MP3 player. The keyword that the web surfer might use in search engines could be:

mp3 player.

People who use keywords for browsing are usually looking for information only.  Keywords for browsing usually have a very high search volume. Getting a top 10 ranking for these general keywords is very difficult and nearly impossible.  It is unlikely that a web surfer who uses such a generic keyword will buy something.

Keywords for comparing

In the second research phase, web surfers narrow their selection because they now know what type of product they want. For example, the web surfer might have found out the he is interested in an USB stick MP3 player with 1 GB flash RAM. The keywords of these web surfers are more specific:

mp3 player 1 GB

mp3 player usb stick

mp player under $100

trekstor mp3 player

samsung mp3 player

People who use keywords for comparing are more ready to buy. Comparing keywords are probably the best keywords that you can target for your search engine optimization campaign.  They often have much lower search volume than general keywords but they will lead to more sales and it is much easier to get top 10 rankings for these keywords.

Keywords for buying

During the last research phase, web surfers know what they want to purchase. They are just looking for the website with the best offer. For that reason, these surfers use very specific keywords:

trekstor i.beat cebrax 1 GB

trekstor i.beat cebrax 1 GB free shipping

philips SA178/07 1 GB

People who use keywords for buying are ready to buy. However, these keywords won't help you much if you offer competing products.

 

Link Building

How outbound links influence your search engine rankings

Links to other websites show your website visitors that your website can be trusted.  You wouldn't send visitors to other pages if they could find negative information about your products or services on other sites. 

Links add value to your website, they show your visitors that you have nothing to hide and that you have confidence in your site. The websites to which you link help your website visitors to put your website into a larger context. If you link to high quality sites with useful content, web surfers will associate your website with these high quality sites.

If you don't have outgoing links or if you hide your links, then you send your visitors back to search engines. If you offer your website visitors links, you can send leaving visitors to other websites that can send you their visitors in return. Carefully chosen links to outside resources can improve the experience of visitors who visit your website.

Don't be afraid that you drive people away by offering links on your website. You either have interesting content on your website or you have not. People eventually will leave your website, no matter how interesting your website is. Even you don't visit your own website all the time.

High quality inbound links

High quality inbound links are links that will help you to get higher search engine rankings and targeted visitors. If you have 20 good inbound links then you'll get better rankings than with 100 bad inbound links.

So what makes a high quality inbound link? There are several points that can make a link better than other links:

1. The link should use the keyword in the anchor text

If you want to get high rankings for a search term like "buy brown shoes" then the links to your website should use exactly that text. The text that is used to link to your site (the "anchor text") influences the words for which your website will get high rankings.

Make sure that the texts that are used to link to your website contain words for which you want to get high rankings on search engines.

2. The link should be from a relevant page

Links from related web pages usually work better than links from unrelated pages. Links from unrelated pages won't hurt your rankings but Google likes links from websites that are related to yours better.

A related page is a web page that has loosely to do with the topic of your website. If you have reason to believe that the visitors of the web page might be interested in what you have to offer then the other page is a related web page.

3. The link should go to a relevant page on your site

While it's okay to get links to your home page it is better to get links to the page that is most relevant to the chosen anchor text. If the link text is "buy brown shoes" then you should make sure that the link goes to a page that deals with brown shoes. If the link text matches the content of the linked pages then it's more likely that your web page is really relevant to that term and it's more likely that you'll get high rankings for that search term.

In addition, you increase the user experience. If a surfer clicks on a "buy brown shoes" link it's much more likely that he'll buy on your site if he gets the correct page.

4. It's good if the link is from an authority site

Links from pages with high authority will help to increase the PageRank of your website. Links from websites with high PageRank have a positive effect on the rankings of your own site.

Unfortunately, the Google PageRank that is displayed in the green bar in Google's toolbar is not the PageRank that Google uses for its ranking algorithm. The PageRank displayed in the toolbar is outdated, often wrong and more a gimmick than a real help (details can be found here and here). You'll often find websites with low PageRank that rank higher than pages with high PageRank in the search results.

Don't trust the green pixels and use common sense. If a website is well known and if the site has good search engine rankings then it's likely that it is also an authority website.

5. The link must not have a nofollow attribute

The nofollow attribute tells search engines that they should not follow a link. Links with that attribute don't help your search engine rankings.

Unfortunately, you have to check the HTML code of your link partners to find out if they use a nofollow attribute to link to your site. IBP offers a link checker that will automatically check if the links to your website use the nofollow attribute or not.

 

How to convert visitors into buyers

Use the right words to increase your sales

It's important that your web pages are interesting to your visitors. Every visitor wants to get a prompt answer to the question "what's in it for me?". In the first paragraph of your web page, you should tell your visitors the following:

• what you do
• why people should stay on your site
• what's in it for your visitors

If you don't answer these questions quickly enough, people will go away.

1. What's in it for your customers?

Your customers want benefits. What can your product do for them? What can it do for them now? The benefits of your product should be the first words on your site. Make them bold and make them big. If your visitors don't know what's in it for them after the first few seconds, they'll leave your site.

People don't read everything on your page. They scan it for interesting information. Grab their attention with benefits.

2. Don't mix up features and benefits

You must differentiate between features and benefits. Features are the attributes of your product, benefits are what your product promises. For example, if you sell a solar-powered clock, then the feature is "uses new 38/12 solar cells". The benefit to the buyer is "you save money because you don't have to buy batteries anymore".

Don't bore your potential customers with technical details. Tell them what your product will do for them, how they will feel when they try your product. Maybe your product or service will make them more money, maybe it will save them time. Tell them and don't be shy.

3. Killer headlines will grab your visitors attention

Nobody will read your entire page. Make it easier for your customers by dividing your page into paragraphs where each paragraph has a headline. Your headlines should make clear what to expect in the next sentences and they should grab your visitors'attention.

Use words like "free, proven, benefit, first, discover, complete, exclusive" and avoid words like "should, could" and "but". Make sure that you use "you" more than "I" or "we". Remember: Your customers don't really care about you and your business. They only want to know what's in for them.

4. End your sales copy by telling the reader what to do

At the end of your copy text, you must tell your visitors what to do next, for example "Click here to order now for immediate delivery".

Optimize your order pages

Statistics show that more than 60 percent of online shoppers abort the ordering process. If your order page isn't easy to use, all other website promotion efforts will be in vain.

Here are the most important points for a successful order page:

• Link from the home page and from all product and service pages to the order page.
• Give the links on your order page names that your customers can easily recognize: "Order", "Buy", "Store", "Checkout", etc.
• Don't hide the price for your products or services. People won't buy if they don't know what they have to pay.
• Tell your visitors about shipping costs and state taxes.
• Tell your visitors the final price before they have to enter the credit card number.
• Tell your visitors who you are and tell them your complete company address.
• Offer an unconditional money-back guarantee if at all possible.
• Tell your visitors upfront about your refund policy.
• Make sure that your order pages are secure. Use at least 40 bit encryption so that your customers can safely enter their contact and purchase information.
• Make sure that your order pages are easy to understand. Test them with your friends or relatives that don't connect to the Internet very often.
• Regularly test your order pages to make sure that they work.
• Make sure that you'll be notified if your server goes down.
• Make sure that your order page displays a meaningful message if the customer forgets to enter the street name or any other required field.
• Make sure that your order pages work with international customers. German customers don't know what to enter in the "State" field and usually leave it empty. Some countries don't even have postal numbers. Your order pages should work for these customers.

 

Google's sandbox effect

Many website owners wonder why their websites rank well in Yahoo and MSN but not in Google. Why is this so and what can you do about that?

It takes some time until Google lists new websites. After you have received a 100% rating from IBP's Top 10 Optimizer, Google needs some time to list your optimized web page.

Google's sandbox and your website

In general, brand-new websites with new domain names need about six to eight months to get top rankings on Google.

The usual process is that Google indexes the new website, lists it for some less important queries and then the web pages drop from the search engine result pages for several months. Although other search engines list the site properly, Google doesn't list the website, sometimes not even for the company name.

If you have a brand-new website, don't worry about this. You are not necessarily doing anything wrong. Google delays the inclusion of new websites. This phenomenon is called the Google sandbox.

Why does Google delay the inclusion of brand-new websites?

It seems that Google delays the inclusion of brand-new websites to encourage webmasters to build content instead of building mini-networks.

Many webmasters try to artificially inflate the link popularity of their website by creating a network of small websites with different URLs that all link to each other. Many of these websites have no purpose other than linking to the main website. By delaying the ranking of new websites, this mini-network strategy doesn't offer a quick jump to the top anymore. The delay might encourage webmasters to focus on the content of their main website instead of building useless mini sites.

What does this mean to you?

If you have a new website, expect that your website will be listed within six to eight months in Google. Add content to your website, get good incoming links and make sure that your web pages are optimized for Google.

As soon as you have a domain name, create a temporary page and link to it from another website to make Google aware of your website. The six to eight months delay starts with Google's first contact with your website. The sooner Google knows your website, the sooner you'll be listed.

Yahoo and MSN don't have such a delay so don't focus on Google alone but also optimize your web pages for these search engines.

The sandbox effect is also applied to changed pages

Google's sandbox effect can also affect older web pages when they change the content of the pages. Details can be found in a Google patent application.