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After reading the conversations, I feel almost apologetic, but....I need some help! Google doesn't even recognize my site on page 6 and I want to get it ranked on the first page (who doesn't?). I went to Google and put the meta tag, changed my keywords, but don't know what else to do. I am not the programmer (preeetty obvious, huh?)but would like to know the basic steps to get the site "out there."
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
What precisely do you mean when you say "Obtain links to your site?"
Make sure you do not pay people for links, if Google finds out they will punish your rankings for it.
You might find these threads and forums helpful. Some are several years old but for the most part still relevant:
Page and Site Building
Successful Site in 12 Months [webmasterworld.com]
Themes [webmasterworld.com]
Building the Perfect Page [webmasterworld.com]
Web Marketing & Traffic Building
Beginners Guide to Web Promotion [webmasterworld.com]
Link Development Versus Traffic Development [webmasterworld.com]
Halo Media & Social Media - Making it Part of Your Marketing Plan [webmasterworld.com] (Supporters Area, fee based)
Related Forums - Search Engines & Link Building
Google Search NewsForum [webmasterworld.com]
Yahoo Search Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Microsoft Search Live Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Link Development Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Pay Per Click Forums
Google Adwords Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Yahoo Search Marketing (PPC) Forum [webmasterworld.com]
MSN/Microsoft AdCenter Forum [webmasterworld.com]
Pay Per Click Engines [webmasterworld.com]
Thank you for your generosity.
I will do some more research and work.
Great Day..
Don't look for any short-cuts in SEO; expect to perform some tedious tasks. Read up on the search engine quality content guidelines so that you know the rules of fair play. It is always best in the long term to implement an ethical search engine optimization strategy; how you promote the web site is ultimately a reflection of the business you are trying to promote.
Then, two things are true
1) It will take ALOT of work to extricate yourself from past misdemeanors, in both a technical and trust sense
2) Future transgressions are treated more harshly than they otherwise would be; never again will you get the 'benefit of the doubt
P1R (among others) has a thread to read [webmasterworld.com]. The mere thought of retro-fitting a site armed with that info gives me nightmares.
But starting from scratch... no excuses.
I guess what's hardest for me is the terms of language that I don't know. The "thread to read" was one I looked at before I posed my question because it was daunting to say the least. I don't understand why it's so complicated.
I don't have a problem with the term ethical, although it seems many people do (they just seem to disregard ehtics altogether!), but I don't get this whole thing about rules of fair play. I just want my site listed. There are other obscure sites where mine should be that I question whether or not they have gone to a big extent to be listed.
I will keep plodding away. What choice is there?
As I heard in a speech yesterday, pick myself up and dust myself off...Thanks for the replies...
I do not believe the use of markup, the selection of anchor text, the acquisition of links, and the structure of a document can be framed in terms of morality. It can be framed in terms of risk.
Its not really complicated, in the same way as sports isn't complicated. Being good is complicated and requires hardwork and exprerience. Fundamentally, you will do well with
1) Great content
2) Great content
3) Non-paid for, on topic links in editorial content from authoritative sources
4) Good navigation and website structure (I prefer heirarchial tiers, others 'flattish' with breadcrumb navigation)
5) Good document structure (including an Hx scheme)
6) Well chosen and well phrased titles
7) Well crafted description metatag
8) Great content
If you are starting out, focus on this. I've said elsewhere on these boards that SEO is a lot like poker. Get the basics right (the above in SEO/ know your hand value in poker) and your already better than most of the compitition. You only have to get fancy if you want to be the BEST. (And trying to get fancy when you don't know what you are doing will get you into a LOT of trouble)
Thus the reason you can rank top 50 with only a bit of effort, in SERPs of millions. However, to break the top 10, you need to be better the other several million, and perhaps a couple of hundred who have a vague idea of what they are doing (although they usually over do it- over-optimisation is the trap many fall in to).
To get above the fold, you need to beat people who may even do this for a living, especially on competitive phrases. At which point, being an enthusiastic amature by using the above recipe just will not cut it.
In summary, SEO is not hard. Being better that other people can be a bit hard. Being the best requires practice, effort and craft- and can definately be hard. Just like sports.
Oh, and if you can't get off page 6, take a long hard look at your site, and its inbound links. You could be suffering a filter penalty (-30 or -60 if its URL or KW specific, -50 if its domain wide, checkout the Google Forum [webmasterworld.com], or its Hot Topics [webmasterworld.com] for explanations), usually down to over-optimisation or keyword stuffing. Avoid keyword stuffing like the plague. And write good content.
[edited by: Shaddows at 10:21 am (utc) on Jan. 22, 2009]
Their application is not normally well understood, but the easy explanations are:
Keyword stuffing (unnatural frequency in alt tags, titles, meta tags etc)
Poor variation on inbound links
Keywords on page not matching inbound links
For me, behaving a certain way is a way of life. A given.
As for the rest...I am checkin it out!
Thanks for your thoughts.
