Site Traffic Etc.

[nokturnalmuse]

I read through the posts, did some research on the web and haven't found all (or most of) the answers I need. Like a previous poster, I have found information on SEO that to me seems bogus. Can someone just give me--a mere designer--some simple advice on obtaining a high ranking (where to place keywords, etc.) and in general driving traffic to a site? My site (www.mysticalsanctuary.com)has been live for about 3 weeks, and I'm just not getting anywhere near the traffic I would expect. I have an adwords ad running, I've submitted to a gazillion search engines including Google and Yahoo, and I'm at a loss as to what to do at this point. In addition, when I do a search for "mystical sanctuary," my site is #5 on Google. #1 is the posting I put on EZboard advertising my site's new forum, and the others are some horrible flashing, multi-color, all-on-one-page, all-text-centered page of the name mystical sanctuary. I also don't see any other pages when I try to do searches on relevant terms. This is not my area of expertise, so any advise offered will be appreciated. Thanks!

[rlrouse]

Hi Jen. The first thing you need to do is get several (the more the better) quality inbound links pointing to your site with a couple of good keywords in the link anchor text.

Take "Mystical Sanctuary" out of your title tag and replace it with the same keywords you use in the link anchor text.

The title (as someone else aptly put it) is prime real estate and you don't want to dilute it with the name of your site. Keywords only is the way to go for good rankings.

Next, make sure you use your keywords several times in the body of the text (and as close to the top of the page as possible).

There are other things that you can do as well, but these are the ones that will provide the best rankings boost in a relatively short timeframe (the most bang for the buck if you will). This will get you started in the right direction.

[nokturnalmuse]

Thanks for the tips! I'll try out your suggestions. :)

[DeanClark]

Hi, Jen

Following on from R L Rouse's input regarding keyword density and link exchange, you can go to http://www.goodkeywords.com and download their free software.

This program tells you the most popular keywords people tap into SEs at any one time. So you can find the words in your interest field most suited for using repeatedly in your site text.

Have a go at GoodKeywords, Jen, and best of luck. There are other methods I know that can help too; call/email me and let's chat.