2 ) ALT Tags – ALT tags were meant to be for text browsers because the images didn’t show in text browsers and the ATL tags would tell the visitor what it’s about. You should put your main keyword(s) in the ALT tags, but don’t over do it because you could get dropped in the results or even worse banned for life!

3 ) Link Popularity – Link popularity is the most powerful SEO tool out of all them. Most search engines don’t even consider web sites if there is not at least one or two links pointing to the web site. Having another site(s) link to your web site is important when it comes to getting your site a good ranking. Your keywords should be in the links you get and keep the keywords short. When you receive requests for a link exchange, check the site out before linking with them, check for spam (Repeat keywords, hidden text, etc.).

4 ) Keyword Density – This is also vital and should be used with research. You should use the keyword(s) once in the title tag, once in the heading tag, once in bold text, and get the density between 5% to 20% (Don’t over do it!). Also use your keyword(s) both low and high on the web page, keyword(s) should be in the first sentence and in the last one.

5 ) Page Size – Your web page’s speed is important to your visitors and the search engines. Why? Because the robots will be able to spider your web page faster and easier. Try your best to keep your web page over 5k and under 15k in size.

6 ) Rich Theme – Search engines are looking at themes more and more. Build content (Articles, FAQ, tips, etc.) much as possible and keep the web pages around 200 to 500 words. Create content that’s related to your market and link them out to other related content on your site. Try to get 200 web pages or more.

7 ) Web Site Design – This is also important, if you want to get indexed! Text content should out weigh the HTML content. The pages should validate and be usable in all of today’s leading edge browsers. Stay away from flash and Java Script, search engines dislike them both a lot.

8 ) Insite Cross Linking – This will help you get all of your web pages indexed by the search engines. Your web pages should be no more than three clicks away from the home page. Link to topic related quality content across your site. This will also help build you a better theme through out your web site. On every page you should link back to your home page and your main service(s).

Matt Colyer is the owner of the Superior Webmaster. He also is a php, CGI and ASP developer

It is easy as a webmaster to get caught up in these webs of
intrigue.

You get email notes about them, you view so-called experts’
thoughts on bulletin Boards – hey you probably even read
things in newsletter articles!

Well I hope so anyway….

The big driver for webmasters currently appears to be
content and link building.

While link building is important I don’t believe it makes
Queen. Maybe a Prince. Content and links DO go hand in
hand but, without relevance, the Kingdom is doomed. Sorry I
will stop the analogy now!

If your site is about finance, then finance content is best
supported by finance link exchanges. Relevance!

If your site is about finance, then finance content
supported by casino link exchanges from a PR8 site while in
the short term may help,but all the signs are saying this
is not a long term strategy.

Okay,so what is the best strategy?

Keep EVERYTHING relevant. It is that simple.

Make sure that you only swap or link to sites that are
relevant to the content on your pages. Yes I am suggesting
link exchanging on pages of your site not a links page.

Links pages seem to be being abused. There are rumours that
pages called links, resources or partners are not passing
page rank. You could be wasting your time building links
that are not giving you any benefits!

Delivering relevant links from relevant content is the
future.

Look at sites such as www.bbc.co.uk or
www.independent.co.uk. News sites have the right idea.
They have 2 or 3 relevant internal links to other
articles on the same topic or links to internal tools that
are related. These usually can be found at the right hand
side of the article.

They also then have weblinks or external links to sites of
interest that are related to the topic. These are relevant!

Another benefit of this is that with a content rich site you
can add hundreds of links quite legitimately and really add
some value both to your Rankings and your users.

With a content-poor site it is difficult, you have to add
link pages or create a links directory. A five page site
will need to add 10 or 12 good link pages to compete and
even then with algorithm changes, this may not be prudent.

Having a site with 400 pages means you can easily add 3
links per page, so you have 1200 link options straight away.

Hopefully this explains that relevance runs a close second
to content.

Always bear in mind when writing content that relevant
links will not only boost your search engine rankings,
but you will also add a service to your visitors.

Jason Hulott is Director of J2 Squared, leading specialistsin Internet Consultancywhose specific aim is to drive more revenueto websites. Their main area of focus are the insurance,finance, and automotive industries.

Step One 3 Simple Questions:

The first step is estimating some target market information. Just ask a few simple questions and write down the answers that you come up with. Youll need this information later:

1. How many people do you think are looking for what you offer?
2. What keywords are they using in search engine searches?
3. Which keywords are the most popular to meet your needs?

Step Two – Verify:

Now that you have your initial estimates, lets validate the information. Visit Overture.coms Advertiser Center and try their Search Term Suggestion Tool located at: http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ac/index.jhtml

Type in any term that you think is close to what your potential visitors are looking for. You will see how many searches were performed, on the Overture search system, for the previous month. TIP Use a general search term to start with.

Now you have the single most important advantage when dealing with any trained business professional you are informed!

Step Three Make it Happen:

Now that you have this great information, you want to see it implemented. This is the best part. I recommend a visit to SEO Partner. SEO Partner (www.SEOPartner.com) really lives up to its slogan search engine optimization on your terms.

They have assembled an enormous talent pool of SEO developers, who actually compete to work on your project. It does not cost you anything to post your optimization projects. To operate the service, they accept a small commission from the SEO developers (which is only a fraction of what developers would normally spend on marketing efforts alone).

Finally, theres one of my favorite features. SEO Partner protects you from those less scrupulous SEO experts you read about more and more with their protective escrow payment system.

Step Four Track Your Progress:

Finally, once you have your campaign underway, you really need to track your progress. There are some great tools available for that purpose. Here are links to some of the better products that I have worked with:

www.webposition.com
www.axandra.com
www.searchenginecommando.com

There are a lot of products out there – all at varying costs. I recommend you visit your favorite search engine and look for seo tools and see what you get for a response. Then I would definitely test each ones demo version thoroughly before investing in any one of them. A good tool is worth the investment but there are so many great options out there that its best to shop around and try before you buy.

I wish you the best of luck in your campaign!