Here are the basic principles to follow if you wish to increase your website traffic and search engine rankings:-

Firstly never regard your website as a static brochure. It should be treated as a dynamic, ever changing sales tool. You should regard it as your real store and keep making it interesting for your customers and potential clients.

If you are not sure about something then employ professionals to help you out. Whilst initially this may appear expensive it is more cost effective than having a website which no one visits!

Always ensure that your site design is simple so that potential clients can navigate easily between web pages without having to search for links. The easier it is for them to find what they want the more likely you are to make the sale.

Make sure that you keep up to date with changes in search engine algorithms as far as possible! This is not always such an easy principle to follow! Where possible make sure that you amend your pages so that your search engine ranking remains high.

Use online tools to keep track on how your website is doing. There are many tools out there such as statcounter or Google Analytics which can give you all of the information you need as to where your visitors are coming from and if their coming back.

Always make your potential customers visit as easy as possible for them, as well as giving your visitors plenty of reasons to remember you by providing free reports, newsletters etc. If they don't remember your site they are not going to come back!

If selling on line make the payment system you use on your website is simple to understand and make clear the shipping details for your product are clear.

Always research (plenty of tools available on the net) and use the right keywords and phrases to attract your target customers.

Ensure that you use your keywords in the right fields and references within your webpage such as the title, headers, Meta tags etc. It is best to place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and then spread them evenly throughout the document.

Don't forget to submit every web page and just not the home page to the most popular search engines and directory services. If necessary hire someone to do this for you although I would NOT recommend an automated submission service.

A point most people overlook is to monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see how they are being successful. They must be doing something right in the way of website design or keywords selected etc.

The reports given by your web hosting company relating to traffic sources are not only very useful but vital to give you control over your marketing. You should analyze your results to find out your how your visitors found you. Was it from search engines or links from other sites and what keywords were the most successful?

Use reports and articles to demonstrate your expertise in your niche.

Last but not least make sure that you have created a site with valuable content containing excellent products and/or services.

To YOUR success

John Beaumont Internet Marketer