Is your website still struggling to earn traffic? What a shame…especially if you spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars creating it. We understand your dilemma.  Unfortunately, when you’re dealing with Internet traffic, it’s not the same thing as freeway traffic. Without an SEO strategy, your website is the equivalent of an “invisible store” right on the main highway! Don’t lose heart. There is no need to scrap the entire website, or worse yet, abandon your entire web marketing plan. All it’s going to take are a few SEO tips, both in terms of optimization (formatting pages properly) and in creating search engine-friendly content.  Here are six tips to remember:

Invest time in writing (or buying) SEO content

Your site will go nowhere if you let it sit and stagnate. You have even less chance of being discovered if you have no significant text on your site, but only Flash, Java or Shockwave content. All the fancy programming that makes a website cool does nothing for SEO. So make sure you have a sitemap, and many pages of text to attract search engines in the first place. 

Focus on Keyword Usage

In the past, this meant that your site had an obligation to research popular keywords for your industry and then use them repetitively in your article. While keyword density is still a smart tactic, it is not as important as quality writing. Therefore, a keyword density of about one percent per page is more than enough. However, now it’s time to consider keyword research, appropriate keyword placement, keyword link placement, and above all relevancy.  Focus on longtail and local keywords that are going to attract attention sooner rather than later.

Create Lots of (Quality) Internal and External Links

Internal linking is a given, as linking your pages together (not merely settling for graphical tab graphics) is what is going to direct web crawlers to index your entire website rather than just one or two pages.  A sitemap can also help you in this regard. However, in order to “connect” your pages to the ubiquitous Internet, you must create links at other websites.  In the past, this meant creating hundreds of articles for directory sites. Now, however, you have to think creatively and stick to reputable sites, not free for all postings.

Optimize Your Tags

While Google and Bing (which powers Yahoo) are adept at finding and indexing content immediately after it is posted (provided the site is popular, consistent and searched on a regular basis) it never hurts to strengthen your tags. Not only should you add meta tags (most CMS-generated sites let you add META tags by just typing them into a box), but you should also spend some time optimizing your title tags, choosing targeted keywords, creating search friendly titles, creating subheadings that reinforce your keyword usage, and creating relevant keyword-appropriate links. 

Let Your Pages Age but Keep Them Up to Date

One of the more important factors according to sites like Google is the seniority of the page.  Therefore, some SEO specialists recommend creating pages as soon as possible and then building onto them later, to take advantage of the age factor. At the same time, new algorithm updates are penalizing websites based on old content deemed to be of low SEO writing quality.Therefore, look over some of your older pages and make sure they are all written according to a high standard. Don’t delete any pages, as you want the age to be considered; rather, add to them and make them complete, fit for human readers.

Keep the page organized

Sites can be penalized, or simply ignored, because of their difficult navigation or design. Pay close attention to your home page and focus on de-cluttering and getting rid of excessive ads or pictures.

What are you doing to make sure that your website is optimized for web traffic which can in turn increase visibility and sales for your small business? Share your small biz diamonds in the comments section below.

Valerie Mellema is the owner of Words You Want and has over 7 years experience in the SEO writing industry. Words You Want offers writing services in articles, blogs, eBooks and press releases.

Have a successful day!

Related posts:

• Why Press Releases Are Effective for SEO
• How SEO Marketing Can Help Your Small Business
• 11 Reasons Small Business Owners Should Write For Examiner.com…From Someone That Knows

Image:FreeDigitalPhotos.net