Search Engine Optimization

SEO, Search Engine Optimization,SERP, Search Engine Ranking Position, in short, how does a web site appear in the first page of search result, when keywords are searched in google.

For fast action, pay google for AdWords (PPC pay per click).  How much it costs depends on what words you choose, and google has an keyword estimate tool. For example I'm sure zorilla will cost less than HDTV or car.  Also, it is possible to set a daily budget or maximum charge per click on your ad so you don't have to worry about getting your bill in a carton at the end of the month.

Organic traffic, visiters who found the site via search engine like google, does not happen overnight, like PPC (pay per click) and it is said that new domains don't rank as high as new ones.

Google warns in their paper Search Engine Optimization (SEO), to be wary of people who claim to boost your rating to #1, or of schemes to boost ratings, and it is possible for effeorts to have the opposite effect.

Let's use some common sense first, take some obvious examples, wikapedia.org and youtube.com they rank high since they are so compelling they have gone virul, and have so many links into their sites.  Everything about SEO I can bet is not strictly followed by these sites.

The lesson here is compelling content and functionality brings relevance to your site and you can break some of the rules, and having a forum and blog work towards this end.

Keeping a blog of your area of expertise, with new and compelling data will keep folks engaged, and will link to it, increasing your incoming link count, increasing relevance.

A couple of times I've read have at least 200 links into your site, and your site should have at least 200 pages of content to start to have a good ranking.  Also noted is to add at least one new page of quality content each day.  One way to leverage this is by having a forum, where users contribute, more on this in community building.

For the rest of us who have a service, or niche ecommerce, here is a distillation as to what we can do for you to help grow organic traffic and ranking.

Marketing research through comparative analysis of similiar web sites to ascertain a common vocabulary used is key.  Google describes this in their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) document.  You will need these key words for paid advertising, as well as growing organic traffic.

Once keywords are found, incorporate them into the corporate vocabulary and use them in headings and in titles.

Building organic traffic is done through properly using keywords, the addition of quality content, and getting the word out about your web site through web 2.0 community building.  Forums discussing topics relevant to the web site

Another method of keeping people involved is through email and SMS messages, which alway include a URL back to your site.  The emails keeps the users engaged, and clicking back to your site.

I need to give credit to Barrie M. North, the auther of "Joomla! a User's Guide" since I read his book before writing this, and many of the above ideas are from his book.  Also credit is given to the online google documentation cited above.