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Five Main Mistakes in Search Engine Marketing
Author David Schneider | Nov 06,2007  |  Print  | Share This
Search engine marketing can increase the traffic that your web site gets, but you have to know how to use it to your advantage to get people to your site. Unfortunately, many people don’t know that subtle differences can make a huge difference in the amount of traffic that your web site can get from search engine marketing. Search engine marketing can work for you, but first you have to be willing to learn the rules of the game and apply them to your own page. By avoiding these five main mistakes in search engine marketing, you might be able to boost traffic on your site and increase sales and ad revenue.

You Don’t use Keywords Effectively

Major search engines continually update the way that they scour the Internet for web pages that are relevant for a person’s search and the way that they rank the results, but they have always relied heavily on keywords. By using keywords to your advantage, you can help ensure that a search engine’s spiders will always find your web site. It’s important to include many keywords on your web site. If you focus on one or two, then you’ll be missing many potential viewers. One way that you can include many keywords on all of your site’s pages is to include a list of the services and products that you offer on every page. These don’t have to be a useless list of keywords that is there to get the attention of search engines. Make them clickable so that potential customers can go directly to the page that offers the product. This effective use of keywords will help your web page show up on search engines’ result and will make the page easily navigable for your customers.

You Focus too Heavily on Images

It’s important to have a web site that looks great, and using images is one way to create a site that looks professional. Be sure that you don’t focus too heavily on images, though. While an image-heavy web site might be aesthetically pleasing, it isn’t a good search engine marketing strategy. Search engines rely on keywords, which means that they have a hard time “seeing” the images on your site. By mixing pictures with keyword-rich text, you will be able to attract the attentions of search engines and customers.

You Rely on Flash

Most search engines have a difficult time seeing Flash pages in the same way that they are blind to images. Again, this issue goes back to poor use of keywords. If the search engines can’t see your keywords, then they aren’t going to list you. Effectively, you don’t even exist. Flash can be a useful component of your web site, but relying too heavily on it will make it difficult for potential customers to find your site.

You Don’t Experiment with Different Keywords

Try thinking of search engine marketing in the same way that you would think of other forms of advertising. If you ran an advertising campaign that didn’t produce results, then you wouldn’t try the exact same campaign again. Experiment with keyword use to see which methods attract the most attention to your site. Just because you’ve built your site, doesn’t mean that you have to keep it exactly the same forever. The Internet evolves quickly. You must evolve with it in order to produce results from your web site. Try using different combinations of keywords in your site’s text to see which ones produce results and which ones are less effective.

You Don’t Change with the Times

Just because search engines were listing your web site within the top ten results yesterday doesn’t mean that your site will be there tomorrow. The Internet is relatively young. It is also constantly changing. Search engines are still trying to figure out which search methods produce the best results. As they change the way that they search for web pages that match search queries, you may need to change the content on your page so that it can be found easily. Regularly check the number of hits that your site gets. If you notice that there has been a dip in visitors, then it may be time to make some changes to your site.

Knowing how to play the search engine marketing game can help increase traffic to your web site. By avoiding the common mistakes that are made, your site will have a better chance of being listed near the top of a search engine’s results. Search engine marketing can increase the traffic that your web site gets, but you have to know how to use it to your advantage to get people to your site. Unfortunately, many people don’t know that subtle differences can make a huge difference in the amount of traffic that your web site can get from search engine marketing. Search engine marketing can work for you, but first you have to be willing to learn the rules of the game and apply them to your own page. By avoiding these five main mistakes in search engine marketing, you might be able to boost traffic on your site and increase sales and ad revenue.

You Don’t use Keywords Effectively

Major search engines continually update the way that they scour the Internet for web pages that are relevant for a person’s search and the way that they rank the results, but they have always relied heavily on keywords. By using keywords to your advantage, you can help ensure that a search engine’s spiders will always find your web site. It’s important to include many keywords on your web site. If you focus on one or two, then you’ll be missing many potential viewers. One way that you can include many keywords on all of your site’s pages is to include a list of the services and products that you offer on every page. These don’t have to be a useless list of keywords that is there to get the attention of search engines. Make them clickable so that potential customers can go directly to the page that offers the product. This effective use of keywords will help your web page show up on search engines’ result and will make the page easily navigable for your customers.

You Focus too Heavily on Images

It’s important to have a web site that looks great, and using images is one way to create a site that looks professional. Be sure that you don’t focus too heavily on images, though. While an image-heavy web site might be aesthetically pleasing, it isn’t a good search engine marketing strategy. Search engines rely on keywords, which means that they have a hard time “seeing” the images on your site. By mixing pictures with keyword-rich text, you will be able to attract the attentions of search engines and customers.

You Rely on Flash

Most search engines have a difficult time seeing Flash pages in the same way that they are blind to images. Again, this issue goes back to poor use of keywords. If the search engines can’t see your keywords, then they aren’t going to list you. Effectively, you don’t even exist. Flash can be a useful component of your web site, but relying too heavily on it will make it difficult for potential customers to find your site.

You Don’t Experiment with Different Keywords

Try thinking of search engine marketing in the same way that you would think of other forms of advertising. If you ran an advertising campaign that didn’t produce results, then you wouldn’t try the exact same campaign again. Experiment with keyword use to see which methods attract the most attention to your site. Just because you’ve built your site, doesn’t mean that you have to keep it exactly the same forever. The Internet evolves quickly. You must evolve with it in order to produce results from your web site. Try using different combinations of keywords in your site’s text to see which ones produce results and which ones are less effective.

You Don’t Change with the Times

Just because search engines were listing your web site within the top ten results yesterday doesn’t mean that your site will be there tomorrow. The Internet is relatively young. It is also constantly changing. Search engines are still trying to figure out which search methods produce the best results. As they change the way that they search for web pages that match search queries, you may need to change the content on your page so that it can be found easily. Regularly check the number of hits that your site gets. If you notice that there has been a dip in visitors, then it may be time to make some changes to your site.

Knowing how to play the search engine marketing game can help increase traffic to your web site. By avoiding the common mistakes that are made, your site will have a better chance of being listed near the top of a search engine’s results.
 
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