One of the good things about SEO marketing as it has the ability of creating passive traffic. Which means, you’ll be getting traffic without having to actively be there. (we will see how in the next few chapters).
This seems like the ultimate choice especially for marketers who are on a shoestring budget. The essence of SEO marketing is that traffic generation relies on the optimization of web content to draw free traffic through search engines such as the big “G” (Google).
Google is the biggest search engine in the world with millions of searches going on daily. By tapping into SEO, you will be swimming in loads of traffic.
SEO is essentially the art of getting your page on the first page of Google for search terms relevant to your online niche business. Let’s say you are in the dog training niche… Hence, when people search for terms like “dog training tips” or “dog training guide”, you want your web page to appear on the first page of the search results – And that is what SEO is all about!
The better you are at SEO, the more traffic and hence, more sales you will get. Of course, if you have a huge marketing budget you can spend it all on advertising and totally forego SEO, but if you are on a shoestring budget, you can always tap into the powers of SEO to get tons of free traffic!
Google ranks how relevant a website is to its searches in terms of Page Rank. By boosting your page rank, you stand higher chance of getting in front of the search engines.
Facebook has a page rank of 10, meaning it is one of the most highly sought after and visited websites on the web. When you first start you website, you probably have a page rank of 0. So it will take some time to build your page rank, but with these methods I’m about to show you below, building page rank will become a walk in the park!
In the next section, we will look at the importance of keyword research for SEO.
Keyword Research
Page Contents
Keyword research is an essential part of SEO.
The Research
You will need to find what keywords are the most sought after in your niche and target them in your web content.
That way, when the majority of people search for something on the net, everything will lead to your website J
The best place to do your keyword search is at Google Adwords Tool https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
The winning formula for good keywords are:
- High search volume
- Low competition
As a general rule of thumb, getting about more than 1000 organic searches a day is a good bet for a highly searched keyword. If you want to check out your competition, get the Google toolbar and see what are the “page ranks” for search results are in the first page.
These keywords and key phrases will then be targeted to draw you massive free traffic via SEO. There are also long tail keywords which are longer key phrases
with less search volumes but virtually no competition. These should be targeted as well.
SEO Basics
As mentioned earlier, SEO is the art of getting your web content highly optimized
so that Google “likes” it. So how do we optimize your website?
The Basics
There are two type of optimization techniques: Onsite optimization and Offsite optimization. Onsite optimization deals with the things you can tweak and modify on your own website to make it more relevant to Google searches.
Offsite optimization deals with interactions with websites outside of your own. This could be in the form of getting backlinks or social interactions, which we will go into more detail later.
The SEO trends are constantly evolving. That is because people are constantly finding ways to exploit SEO and make their websites on top of the search ranks. But Google is a smart company, and they have a team who constantly evolves Google’s algorithm to make sure that searches remain relevant and not bring spam sites in front.
People who exploit SEO in the wrong way are called “Black hat SEO” artists and their practices should be avoided at all costs. That being said, let’s dwell deeper into SEO the right way and how we can start applying it to our businesses immediately!
Onsite Optimization
As mentioned earlier, onsite optimization deals with the things you can edit on your own website to make your web content more likeable by Google.
Onsite
The first thing you must know is keywords. In short, every page should have about 2-5% keywords density. So sprinkle your keywords where it’s due but don’t overdo it.
For total optimization, keywords or key phrases should be present in the titles of blog posts, the first sentence of the first paragraph and also at least once in the body.
Keywords should also be bolded or italicized every now and then. Links should be worded with anchor text links (keywords and phrases).
Also, onsite linkages is highly recommended. Meaning, you should link blog posts and pages together if they are relevant. These small steps contribute to SEO and should be applied when convenient.
One more thing about on site SEO, people say that images don’t contribute to SEO. I beg to differ. Images should be given alternate texts or descriptions. You can also link images to blog posts.
Stick to these good practices and you’ll be on your own to free traffic.
Chapter 5: Offsite Optimization
Offsite optimization deals with the stuff outside your website that can contribute to SEO. One of the main components of offsite optimization is getting backlinks. Backlinks is one of the main components of offsite optimization.
Offsite
A backlink is basically someone else’s website linking to you. Obviously, pages with higher page rank that link back to you give more Google Juice. The key is to get as many high page rank, RELEVANT websites linking back to you.
Quality over quantity, nuff said.
So it would be a good idea to scout around your competitors websites and request a link exchange.
Another important component is social interactions. Like I said, Google’s algorithm changes from time to time, and recently they implemented a new ruling that social interactions are important for SEO. This could be things like sharing on Facebook, Twitter, comments etc.
The world is connected to everywhere now, not a stand alone component.
Advanced SEO Techniques
Okay, so we have covered the basics of SEO domination. Let’s look at some
advanced techniques for boosting your Page Rank.
Advanced
Tagging, Categories & Organizing
Have you written a blog post on a blogging platform before? Tagging, categorizing and organizing your blog posts comes a long way and can greatly improve your SEO rankings.
Related Pages Plugin
Plugins like these work great if you are blogging and helps users navigate your site better, as well as create a ton of onsite links within your website.
Speak a different language.
Did you know that many other people are searching for information in other languages? You’d probably get a much higher ranking targeting a different language.
Create a Mini Sitemap
This is great for helping people (as well as Google spiders) navigate your map and creates a tons of mini links.
SEO Mistakes To Avoid
SEO marketing can be a very powerful tool for generating massive passive traffic. But if you use it incorrectly, you’ll end up doing more harm than benefits. Here are some SEO marketing mistakes you should avoid at all cost:
Errors
- Over-doing the keywords. If you put too much keywords in your article for SEO purposes, you’ll end up coming off as spam by Google and this will hurt your rankings.
- Dabbling with black hat SEO techniques. These techniques are bad and can get you banned or “Google Slapped” so that you will never get a good ranking.
- Not having good coding. If you are designing your website yourself and mess up the coding in your website, Google spiders won’t be able to read your site efficiently and this can hurt your rankings as well.
- Becoming a link farm. Getting backlinks are important but if you get a ton of useless backlinks from irrelevant spammy sites or use “link getting softwares” you’re doomed.
In short, success in SEO marketing lies in adhering to good SEOpractices and avoiding silly mistakes. There are no shortcuts to success! Don’t forget, content
and are king so you have to place a huge focus on those as well, while not overlooking the small stuff.
SEO – The Way To Passive Traffic
SEO-ing your web content is a great way to generate easy traffic. That being said,
you won’t get traffic instantly by writing a few blog posts.
The Way To Go
The process to traffic building via SEO marketing is a long one, and you’ll have to consistently produce good web content which meet standards and also is up to date with relevant information.
So how does one generate passive traffic through SEO? There are a few ways. For one, you can hire a ghost writer to post articles for you. This cuts you out of the equation and can give you more time to focus on the marketing aspects of your business.
You can also pay to have your blog posts featured in websites or directories. This is a faster way to get a boost in your traffic by having your featured article put in front of the website.
Another way is to higher an SEO consultant to optimize your web content so that the SEO will bring in long term steady passive traffic for your website.
Finally, you might consider collaborating with someone. That someone will do the SEO portion while you focus on the other aspects such as creating products, marketing etc.
Remember, you don’t have to do everything yourself.
SEO is a complex topic that requires a lot of research and work. Not only do you have to work hard to get to the top of the SERPs, but you have to work hard to stay there, as well.
But how do you know if your efforts are really working? If you’re targeting dozens, even hundreds of keywords or more, how can you possibly keep up with whether or not your rankings are going up, staying the same, or even slipping?
Think about this:
Let’s say you’re trying to lose weight. You go on a diet and start exercising, but you have no measuring tape and no scale to track your results. You might see occasional signs that you’re actually losing weight, like your pants fitting a bit looser, but without real results staring you in the face, you’re likely to lose motivation. You might even give up entirely.
The same thing can happen in SEO. You might see occasional signs that your rankings are improving, such as jumps in traffic, but that could be due to anything from getting a post on social media to some sort of seasonal boost in search traffic. It doesn’t necessarily mean your rankings have changed.
You need tools to help you keep track of your rankings. These tools can track your rank over time, showing you whether you are gaining, losing, or retaining rank. Not only that, but these tools can track many different keywords at a time, which would be very difficult and time consuming to do manually.
So let’s take a look at some of the different tools you can use to track your SEO results.
Types of Rank Trackers
There are two main types of tools you can use to check your SEO rankings—desktop and online. Both types have their advantages and disadvantages, so let’s take a look at what makes each type tick.
Desktop Trackers
The main advantage of desktop trackers is that if you’re working with a huge number of keywords, they may be the best option because a lot of online trackers limit the number of keywords you can track, or charge more for larger numbers of keywords.
The problem is that if you’re using a desktop tracker from your own IP address, the searches engines may ban your IP address temporarily for doing too many searches in a short timeframe. This necessitates the use of proxies.
Another benefit of desktop trackers is that they often cost a flat, one- time fee, while most online services charge an ongoing monthly fee to
pay for the cost of all those searches. That can really add up over time, so running a desktop tracker can be cost effective, however once you add in the cost of a proxy service, the cost may not be all that much less than just paying for an online service.
Online Tools
While online tools may end up becoming expensive if you have to track a lot of keywords, you won’t risk your own IP address getting banned, and you can track as many keywords as you need to (as long as you’re willing to pay the monthly fee.)
Now let’s take a look at some of the specific tools you can use to track
your rankings.
Another benefit of online tools is that they will work on nearly every computer out there, and many will even work on a tablet because they work in a browser. No specific OS required.
Desktop Tools
We’ll look at desktop tools first, because those are generally more affordable and most have the advantage of allowing you to track an unlimited number of keywords.
Rank Tracker (PC, Mac, Linux)
>> https://www.link-assistant.com/rank-tracker/
Rank Tracker is a desktop program that is available for all major operating systems, including Windows, OS X, and Linux.
Rank Tracker will keep track of your rankings in over 400 search engines, even in foreign markets, and without any limitations whatsoever. There is no extra cost for more search engines or more keywords. It can even be set to do this on autopilot at whatever frequency you choose.
Not only will it check your ranks, it will also help you research keywords, build and manage links, research your backlinks and
competition, audit your website content, and even manage your social media.
There’s a 7-day trial, but the software itself starts at $299 for the Professional version, which is fine for most website owners. It’s pricey, but it can save you money over the long run when you factor in many months of service from an online service that has a monthly fee.
EZ Rank Tracker (PC)
>> https://ezeeranktracker.com/
EZ Rank Tracker is for PC only, comes with a wide range of features, and is one of the most affordable solutions out there. You can track your rank in 188 Google domains and have an unlimited number of projects and keywords, as well as track social signals and website stats and more.
Pricing is $19.99 per month or $99.99 for lifetime.
Online Tools
Online tools will probably cost you more over the years, because all those monthly fees really do add up. However, their services can be absolutely invaluable, so if you can afford them, this is one area where you may want to splurge for your business.
I’m going to rank these according to price, from cheapest to most expensive. Those that cost more are generally richer in features, but if you’re just getting started, you may not be able to spend so much for month.
Keep in mind that the results you get with one system will likely NOT transfer if you move to another system, so if you start with a cheaper one you may lose a lot of tracking data.
With the paid list, I’m ordering these by their lowest price point. Some of the options with lower entry-level prices have higher upper level pricing, but I’m ordering them by the lowest possible price you can pay. These prices may change any time, but they are accurate as of the time of this writing.
Google Webmaster Tools FREE
>> https://www.google.com/webmasters
The cheapest online rank tracking tool is, of course, Google Webmaster Tools. Their free Google Search Console will allow you to check basic information about your keyword rankings, but none it is done automatically, and it won’t give you very much information at all. But if you’re broke and have no other option, it’s better than nothing. You’ll just have to keep track of your rankings by checking manually and writing them down at regular intervals. Be sure to date each entry so you can tell how long it’s been since your ranking changed.
WhiteSpark
$5 to $200 Per Month
WhiteSpark focuses specifically on location-specific rankings, so you can check how you rank in a specific market. It starts at just $5 per month for 10 keywords, so it’s a great value. You can also use unlimited domains and unlimited locations, but you’ll be limited to checking your rankings for just 10 keywords. The price of plans rises based on the number of keywords you want to track, but all plans include unlimited locations and domains.
SE Ranking
$7 to $189 Per Month
SE Ranking has affordable plans starting at just $7 per month when you pay for a year at a time. That lets you track 50 keywords. If you need to track more, you can upgrade to 250, 1,000 or 2,500 keywords at higher price points.
This system also includes backlink monitoring, website auditing, and many other features.
Authority Labs
$49 to $450 Per Month
>> http://www.authoritylabs.com
Authority Labs is one of the most trusted names in SEO tracking. Their plans start at a very reasonable $49 per month for 250 keywords and rise to $450 per month or more for 5,000+ keywords.
They have a plethora of features like local tracking, mobile tracking, daily updates, and more, so you’ll have pretty much everything you need to get a complete picture of your rankings.
SEOprofiler
>> http://www.seoprofiler.com
$69.95 to $999.95 Per Month
SEOprofiler starts at $69.95 per month with a limit of 500 keywords and goes up to $999.95 per month for 10,000 keywords. This service also
includes web page auditing and other features. This service doesn’t include as many tools as other services, but they do include more keywords than some of the cheaper options.
Moz
$99 to $599 Per Month
Moz is considered by many experts to be the ultimate SEO tool set. They’re on the pricey end of things, but their features match their prices. Not only do they have the same features most services have like rank tracking and keyword research, but they also have other features that are extremely useful such as search visibility score. If you’re looking for the one tool that can pretty much do it all, Moz is considered the one to go to.
SEMrush
$99.95 to $399.95 Per Month
SEMrush is a very well-known and highly respected service. They have an enormous number of features, from keyword research, to advertising research, and yes, of course, rank checking.
You may not need all these features, but if you do, SEMrush is one of the top tools available.
There are many, many other tools available, but these are some of the most popular. If you can’t find what you need in one of these services, there’s a good chance it doesn’t yet exist.
Conclusion
SEO is not going to do you a lot of good if you have no way to track your results. Let’s say you make a change to your site that you think will boost your rankings, but it actually hurts them? How will you know if you aren’t tracking your results?
Obviously you could check your rankings manually, but if you are trying to rank for more than a handful of keywords (and you probably are), you’re going to spend a crazy amount of time checking this. And you need to check your results frequently, even daily, so you can respond to changes immediately. For example, if your rankings drop drastically, you need to respond as quickly as possible before the traffic you lose rises dramatically.
These tools will help you track your rankings on a regular, automated basis so you don’t have to spend all that time doing it manually.
Resources
Here are links to the resources found in this guide:
Desktop Tools:
>> https://www.link-assistant.com/rank-tracker/
>> https://ezeeranktracker.com/
Online Tools:
>> https://www.google.com/webmasters
>> http://www.authoritylabs.com
Wrapping Up
Traffic generation is a tedious process, but can be enjoyable if you have the passion to learn and give to your followers.
SEO marketing is great way, especially for young businesses on a shoestring budget to get their niche business up and running.
A smart marketer knows how to utilize all sorts of traffic generation options. Perhaps with the money made from your passive SEOtraffic, you might want to invest in some paid traffic methods so to double your traffic and double your profits.
Finally, you should always consider cutting yourself out of the equation so that you can enjoy a passive income without having to work. As Robert Kiyosaki says, the most successful people are the investors (not business managers).
I wish you all the best in your SEO marketing success!
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