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Slide 1: ==== ==== For a comprehensive guide on starting or maintaining a WordPress website, check this out: http://startawordpresswebsitex.com/videos ==== ==== 5 Things you can do to Improve your search engine rankings (SEO) "Build it and they will come." - Field of Dreams - Movie 1989 If only it was as easy as just putting your product up for sale and having people show up out of nowhere. Businesses have always had to advertise their product so prospects could learn about them first and then come to their place of business, contact them or find them on the internet.  Finding your business on the internet is the challenge that's growing at nano speed. More and more, people are turning to the internet to find and purchase everything. Consequently, every business wants to be found easily from a prospect's web search. Everyone wants to have the number one non-paid listing for their topic, in Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft Live Search. Right now over 70% of the searches on the internet are done via Google. So, in this report, I'll primarily cover Google.  A Little History and Some Misconceptions The "experts" will tell you they know how Google works to get you a top ranking. Not only is this usually not true, there's a good chance that what gets you listed today could be different six months from now. When Google first started indexing sites, the smart money was to have meta tags and meta keywords in certain places of your HTML code.  Google would then pick up on these words.  That may have been true for a while, and it may be partially true today. But now search engines and Google in particular rank you by their "secret sauce." For your best results, listen to what the search engine companies tell you to do and also copy what has been successful for other people.   This how I found success with my company on Google.  If you search for, "how to start a business from scratch" in Google I usually come up on the first page. I also come up on the first page for "AIX Training", sometimes ahead of IBM and it is their operating system! In less than a month I got that ranking for my eBook, How To Start A Business From Scratch...Without Having Any. It was not easy. It took a lot of research and a lot of hours on the computer. But I am going to share what I learned with you.  First a couple words of caution: -      It takes time. Don't expect your listing to improve overnight. I was surprised when I got the listing in 30 days. -      It takes work. There is a lot of writing and keeping track of blogs, article sites and relevant details. You need to make a commitment to this, but it will
Slide 2: pay off. -      You will find a lot of products on the Internet that guarantee you high search engine ranking results. Be wary. Not because you may waste your money, although you may, but because some of the tactics employed by many of these methods can get you banned from Google and other search engines. It happens all the time This is a slow methodical process. Consistency and playing by the rules wins this race. 1. You Gotta Give'em What They Want - Site Maps First and foremost, you need to please the search engine companies. You can learn what Google wants to see in order to get your site indexed, by going to their Web Master Tools page. Google will tell you how to make your site more Google-friendly. Getting your site indexed by Google is very important because it makes it easy for them to find you. You want that. Generating a site map can be a bit technical so you may need your web master to do it for you. If you host your web site with Godaddy.com or some other web hosting companies, they will generate the site map for you at no cost. Those sites usually make the task something you can do with a couple mouse clicks. As an aside - Yahoo! has Site Explorer and MSN has Webmaster Live. 2. Get Published - Article Writing Search engines are always looking for experts. It validates the quality of their search results. Write articles and submit them to EzineArticles and other article sites.  The sites are free and besides helping your search engines listing, it will get you and your business noticed. Always make sure to put your URL and contact information in the article. If you have no time to write an article there is a whole industry of article writers (including myself!) who will research your subject and write the articles for you. Check with Elance and Guru to find writers. 3. Create a Blog Search engines also search blogs. I have two blogs, just to make sure. They were both free to set up. The first blog is with Google's blogging system, Blogger. Google purchased Blogger a few years ago and is improving it and integrating it into their suite of products, nicely. If Google offers something for free, I take it. I want to be found by Google, so I use as many as their products as possible. It may sound shallow but I am after results.   The second highly used blog posting service is Worpress.com. There is also Wordpress.org.  I don't recommend wordpress.org unless you have your own server and want to host your blog. Like Blogger, Wordpress.com is hosted elsewhere and requires very little set up time. You can be blogging in 10 minutes. You want other people to link to your blog. These are called backlinks and are incoming links to your website, web page or blog. These backlinks tell the search engines you are important and should be ranked high.  Both Blogger and Wordpress make it easy for people to link to your blog.  You also want to comment in other peoples blogs that are in your industry. Make the comments meaningful. Don't just copy and paste. You will get listed in their blog and
Slide 3: it's also another way to make business contacts and establish your expertise. 4. Subscribe to Google Alerts Go to News on Google. Do a search for Mexican food. After the search results come up, scroll to the bottom of the page. You will see, "Get the latest news on Mexican Food with Google Alerts." If you click that link Google can email every time it finds Mexican food indexed on the Internet. (You may want to narrow your search terms!) From your email you can click on the topics that are relevant to you and go to go to the article or blog posting. This is how you can make good posts to other people's blogs. Google Alerts are an incredibly handy resource. 5. Reuse Your Articles In Your Blog and In Press Releases This last point is a tip that seems obvious but is often overlooked. Take your articles and reword them in a more personal way for your blog(s) and in more of a press release format to be submitted as a press release. You just don't know which will be picked up first. You have content. People need it. Use it. A good, free press release site is The Open Press. You can easily set up an account and submit your press releases. And don't forget about your local media. They're always looking for stories from local businesses. One tip here when sending to the local media - In your sub head (right below the headline) use a sentence that starts, "Local business person...."  Editors get bonus points for finding local success stories. Summing Up These are just five things you can do to help your search engine rankings. It seems every day the rules change and you need to try something different. Please link to my blog to keep up with what I uncover. I will also be adding chapters and articles like these to my eBook. [http://www.LouieBernstein.com] Professional Experience: I have have been in the computer industry since 1976. Starting as a data processing recruiter, I moved to account management positions at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for four years and EMC Corporation (EMC2) for two years before starting MindIQ in 1986. During my term as CEO, I have grown the business four different times, bringing to market several products and getting our company included in the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies. I also now run a small sales and marketing firm. We deliver sales copywriting, marketing consulting and Internet Marketing expertise. I have recently released my first eBook - How To Start A Business From Scratch...Without Having Any. Specialties: Building businesses, sales, negotiations, training, eLearning, e-Learning, online training, Education, small business, start a business, starting a business, entrepreneur
Slide 4: Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Louis_Bernstein ==== ==== For a comprehensive guide on starting or maintaining a WordPress website, check this out: http://startawordpresswebsitex.com/videos ==== ====