Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Why Internet Marketing Is So Much Fun

By Simon M Skinner

Search Engine Optimization. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun, does it? Even when you call it SEO, it still just sounds so... technical. Thankfully, SEO doesn't have to be some sort of dreadful thing. If you take the time to learn a little about search engine optimization and are willing to practice, you just may find that SEO has become one of your favorite things to do! First of all, let me explain what search engine optimization is. In essence, SEO is using keywords (the search terms people use when conducting a search on Google, Yahoo or other search engines) in your website, your articles, anything else which will be published on the web. Why is this done? Because using these terms makes a website or article easier to find using a search engine. Since most people don't look to deeply into their search results ? a page or two, usually, you'll want your website to be as closer to the top of that list as possible. SEO is a big part of getting there. Let's say for instance that you have a website which sells flowerpots. You'll want to make sure that your website is optimized for the same words that people search for when trying to find flowerpots online.

SEO doesn't have to be terribly complicated and you can have fun doing it. The secret is to look at optimizing your text as something fun rather than a chore. Once you practice a little and gain some skill at it, you'll find that it's something you enjoy doing. So what can you do to make SEO fun? Make a game of it. Here's how ? start by just writing down everything you'd like to say on your website. Don't worry too much about your keywords yet, just write! After you get your first draft down, go through it and identify all of the keywords and key phrases you've already included. Next, go back and try to work in other keywords which you didn't include the first time. One trick is to try replacing pronouns like "it" that refer to a keyword. Make sure that your text still makes sense though!

Of course while you are having fun with SEO, don't go too crazy with it. Remember that too much SEO can be as bad as none at all. While it may look okay to you, it will make the text overdone. Usually you'll find that it is recommended to have about 1-2% keyword density within your articles. Basically this means that for every 100 words that you write, you should have 1-2 keywords in that 100 words. So, if you write an article that is 400 words long, then you should have anywhere from 4-8 keywords in the entire article. When you are trying to hit the right amount of keywords, make it into a game and see how close you can get to the right amount the very first time that you try.

Yes, SEO needs to be well balanced, but it is nowhere near as difficult as so many think it will be. If you take the time to be well informed and you work at it, you can make SEO fun to work on. Just make sure that you do your SEO like you would chocolate chip cookies. You need enough chocolate chips to have great flavor, but if you have too many, you will have a huge mess. Remember this when working on SEO. Make it fun, keep it balanced, and you'll find that the SEO just falls into place for you.

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