It can be frustrating to put so much effort into your SEO strategy without seeming to be able to grab that coveted number one position on the search engines.  It is surprisingly common to see people get stuck at number five or six in the rankings.  If you have done everything that you can think of to get ahead in the rankings game, but still aren’t at the top, here are 4 quick SEO tactics that might be able to help.

The first is pretty simple, but most people overlook it.  Take a look at what your competitors are doing and “steal” their keywords.  See what keywords they are using in their title tags.  Find out what keywords they are using in their anchor text, especially the ones that are pointing to their money pages.  Some will even include their keywords in their meta data.  However, keep in mind that savvy webmasters will actually put dummy keywords in their meta data to keep people like you off their scent.  This might sound like a shady idea, but only because it is called “stealing”.  Think of this way, call it learning.  All you are really doing is learning what they are doing and then doing it better, if possible.

The next thing that you should do is put a lot of effort into getting a double ranking.  The first thing that you need to do is find two pages in your site that are both ranking in the search engine results for the same keyword. Ideally both of these pages will already be in the top 20.  Now that you have your two pages ready to go, it is time to optimize. The first thing you need to do is place reciprocal links for the keyword you are trying to double rank for between both of those pages.  That will help search engine spiders tie those pages together.  Next, you need to make sure that both of those pages are optimized for the same keyword.  If you still can’t get a double ranking, then focus a little more SEO time getting backlinks with the right anchor text.

Another important SEO tactic, if you are having trouble boosting your ranking, is to take some time and create a short list of high value backlink sources.  Ideally they will come from related sites and authority sites.  A few additional high power backlinks could be exactly what you need to bump your website up those last few spots.  If you aren’t sure whether or not your links are going to be powerful enough, use a tool like LinkScape to calculate your MozRank.  This will tell you the quality of your incoming links, whereas other tools will focus on quantity.  Having this information will be able to tell you what to do next.  If your competitors have a higher MozRank, then you need to improve yours.  If your MozRank is higher, but you still cannot rank above them, then you probably have issues with either on page optimization or poor anchor texts.  Either way, you will find out what needs to be improved upon in your overall SEO strategy.

The final thing to do is use Google Webmaster Tools to do your own site diagnostics.  A lot of people will use 3rd party sources to do a website audit, but none of these sources knows more about how search engines are seeing your website better than Google itself.  You should check the following at minimum: make sure that you have a sitemap submitted, find duplicate tag and descriptions and fix them, find out if you are creating an issues for spiders, find any 404 pages, and you can even tell Google how to index your images.

All of these tactics will be a great addition to any SEO strategy and could be exactly what you need in order to get to the top of the search rankings.

To your success,

P.S.  Click here to Learn How to Build your Business Online like never before!

The idea that you can make money from blogging has been established for some time.  However, a lot of people think that they only way to do this is by adding some form of advertising or promoting affiliate offers.  The truth is that there are a lot of indirect ways that a blog can be profitable.  In fact, most small business’s and home business’s that benefit from having a blog, do so indirectly.  Here is a quick look at some of the different ways that you can profit from your blog indirectly.

One of the most common ways that people can indirectly profit from their blog is through consulting or speaking engagements.  If you are viewed as an expert in your field, then people will naturally want to ask you for advice.  In fact, a lot of people are willing to pay for it.  While this is better suited for some niches over others, it is still extremely common.

If you are blogging as part of your online business strategy, then you may actually get job offers because of your blog.  There are a lot of stories about people who were contacted about a particular employment opportunity, normally on a short contract basis, because a company liked their blog.  The reason that this has become commonplace is because larger companies have discovered that bloggers, through blogging, have already actively demonstrated their particular expertise within a given field.  In fact, in most cases, a blog will do more to promote your skill and expertise better than any resume could.

Another potential way to earn money because of your blog is through writing deals.  There are a number of different ways that this is possible.  The first is as a freelance writer.  In fact, many of the most successful freelance writers will have a website and blog of their own because it really is such a great tool.  There are offline writing opportunities that may be made available as well.  For example, a number of newspapers and news organizations have offered bloggers paid positions within their company.  The final, option is to actually get a book deal.  There are have been a large number of publishing companies that have offered bloggers a chance to condense their blog into a book and get it published.

You also shouldn’t discount the potential connections that your blog will give you.  Through your blog, you can meet all sorts of people within your industry and one of them could be a future business partner.  Because the people reading your blog will have similar interests or share a similar expertise within your given field, there is no reason why you couldn’t create a business opportunity together.

As you can see, there are a number of different ways that you can profit  from your blog indirectly.  You don’t need to fill your blog with affiliate offers and banner ads to make a profit.  If your content is good enough, you may end up receiving more opportunities that you could ever have imagined.

To your success,

P.S.  Click here to Learn How to Build your Business Online like never before!

There are a lot of home based business that would be exceptionally successful if only the owner of the business didn’t fall victim to common problems.  Fortunately, all of these problems are easy to overcome as long you plan ahead and identify them early.  The reason that these problems tend to primarily occur to home based businesses is because people sometimes disregard some of the subtle differences between working at home and working in an office.  Here are some common problems that you should always be on the lookout for.

The first common problem is that it is extremely easy to become distracted at home.  Why?  Because home is where you relax, hang out, and even sleep.  Your home is normally the most comfortable place that you spend your time, which means that it is really easy to relax there.  Unfortunately, that means that it takes double the self-motivation to actually get up in the morning and do some work.

Along the same lines of losing motivation is overlapping your personal space and your work environment.  Granted, one of the benefits of working from home is that you can work when and where you want, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t separate the two.  By creating a separate workspace that you can retreat to during work hours, you will not only stay motivated more easily, but you will also be able to get away from work.  If you work at a desk in the living room, then when you are relaxing and watching television, your work is still only a few feet away, which means you will never really get away from your work.

Another problem that home based business owners have is that they don’t always treat their business as a business.  For example, many home based businesses do not have a business plan.  This may not sound important because if you are working alone, you know exactly what is going on.  But a business plan is a lot more than simply an assessment and projection of your business.  It includes goals that you expect to meet; it includes market analysis; it includes standard operating procedures, and more.  In short, it describes not only how you should run you business, but also what it will take to be successful.

The fourth potential problem is zoning laws.  It is surprising how many stories there are about home based businesses being shut down because a nosy neighbor made a complaint.  If your home based business is very discreet, then you won’t likely have any problems, however it is always a good idea to know the zoning laws in case an issue every arises

The final major problem of home based business owners is that they stand in their own way.  Just because you are running a home based business doesn’t mean that it has to be small.  It is still a business and you should be afraid to push your limits to help the business grow as much as possible.  Never sell yourself or your business short because it takes place in your home.

There are a lot of things that can a home based business to fail, but the biggest problem isn’t the business itself, the problem in normally the owner.  Five of the most common mistakes that home based business owners make includes: becoming distracted, not creating a separate workspace, not treating it like a “real” business, not knowing the zoning laws, and simply getting in their own way.

To your success,

P.S.  Click here to Learn How to Build your Business Online like never before!