It's the new American dream. Your website appears in a top spot on
Google for your chosen keyword. Next thing you know, orders start
coming in faster than you can handle, and you are rolling in the money.
If only it were so easy, right?
Well,
It can be
done. I've done it many times in many different industries. There is no
secret, but rather, it's just knowing what to do. I've made just about
every mistake one can make with a website, but I learned from every
setback. If you were only allowed to do one thing to get ranked for
your site in Google, without a doubt, all you'd need to do is get links
for your site.
Yes,
there are many other factors involved in getting your site to a top
position. But this is the most powerful way as of this writing to get a
top spot in Google. It's not just enough to have links pointing to your
site, but you need to have your keyword "anchor linked" to your site.
Anchor linking is when you use your keyword phrase as the click-able
text for a link. So, instead of saying "Click Here", you would use
"Widgets" as the link text.
Now,
another point of consideration is determening what keyword/phrase you
want to use to get your site found. Most times, people impulsively
choose a one word phrase. While this would be a great way to bring
traffic to your site, would it bring targeted traffic, with people
looking specifically for your product or service? Most times when
people type in a one letter keyphrase, they are in the beginning of
their search.
They may
type in "Shoes", but are really looking for "Running Shoes". So, if you
have a top ranking for shoes, do you serve that user's needs? Maybe,
but they may also be looking for dress, casual, Women's, Men's,
Children's, athletic, girl's, boy's, etc. This is why when you begin to
optimize your site, you should focus on more targeted keyword phrases.
Suppose
you sell a certain brand name of dress shoes. For this example, we'll
call the famous brand XYZ. So, by getting anchor links as "XYZ Dress
Shoes", you are already eliminating those users who are looking for
another brand or line of shoe. Next, you need to make sure that the
page that gets linked contains the on the page content with "XYZ Dress
Shoes". If you would link to a page without relevant content, Google
would view this link as possible spam, or more appropriately,
irrelevant content.
Now, once
you have compiled your list of keywords, you need to see which one are
searched on the most. The best tool for this is WordTracker, and it is
worth the tiny fee you need to pay to have access for one day. There
are also free tools online that you can use, but WordTracker will give
you the most accurate results.
Once you
have run through your list of all your keywords, the obvious choice is
to pick the ones with the highest amount of searches (and content
relevant to your site!). The next step is to then begin the process of
a link campaign. Now, I can already hear you complaining about doing a
link exchange. This is only 1/3 of your campaign. The ideal method is
to not only engage in a reciprocal link exchange, but to also engage in
strategic linking.
Strategic
linking is when you get a link to your site without having to return
the favor. What's the best way to do this? Write an article just like
this one. If I get one website to use this article and have it point to
my site, I've just created another link to my site. Pretty easy, eh?
Since you
have now engaged in a linking campaign, you should expect to see
results in Google in as little as 4 days, and as far as 6 months. All
of this is determined by where your links are coming from, and the
popularity of the site from which the link came. Next, you need to get
as many links as you can pointing to your site with your popular
keyword phrase anchor linked to your site.
As I
mentioned before, there many other factors that will only enhance your
rankings in Google, but the implementation of a link campaign is the
strongest method to get your site to a top ranking!
-To your online success!
Paul Bliss
SEO for Google - eBook
