Many do-it-yourself webmasters and online entrepreneurs
have been led to believe that search engine positionining
is a black art, and that no mere amateur can hope to
compete with the "experts." If you are among them, you're
missing out on a great opportunity to drive free, targeted
traffic to your website.

There are only three steps you need to take, if you want
to quickly increase your site's visibility in the search
engines. The three steps are: positioning, optimization,
and link building. In this short tutorial, I'll explain
what's involved in each one, and show you just how easy it
can be. If you can give me even 10 minutes of your time
today, you'll be well on your way to top rankings.

If there is one message I'd like to get across to you,
it's "don't fear the search engines." Not everything that
you have been told about them is true! If you would like to
increase the amount of traffic flowing to your website,
without spending a dime, I urge you to read this article
with an open mind.

Step 1: Keyword Research & Search Term Selection

Let's start with a quick definition:
"Search terms" are the words and phrases that people type
into search engines. For example, if I go to Google.com and
type in "pokemon cards," that's a search term.

To get traffic from search engines, you need to know what
people are searching for, and who you're competing against.
This sounds very basic, but it's important. Search term
selection really boils down to finding a balance between
popularity, targeting, and competition.

Realtors, for example, might be tempted when they discover
how many people search for "real estate," and believe that
this is a perfect set of keywords. That's a very popular
search term, but unless you sell real estate all over the 
world, it's not specific enough to reach your customers.

Some folks can come up with good, targeted search terms
with nothing more than common sense, but I prefer to do my
homework. The best way to do this on your own is with the
Wordtracker service (http://www.wordtracker.com), which
allows you to find popular search terms, and investigate
the competition.

If you aren't interested in doing it yourself, you can
hire someone to do the research for you, and get a report
back that tells you which search terms are the most
popular, and which will be the easiest to compete for.

Low-cost keyword research reports are available from SEO
Research Labs (http://www.seoresearchlabs.com), and you can
find any number of competing services by looking up
"keyword research" on your favorite search engine.

Step 2: Search Engine Optimization

"Optimizing" simply means putting the keywords you've
selected onto your web pages in the right places, with the
right formatting. That's all it means. There's a great deal
of misinformation about this subject, so let me set the
record straight: optimizing is the easiest part of this
process.

How easy is it? Well, I can tell you 90% of what you need
to know in just a few lines, and there's a good chance that
you'll never need to learn the rest. Once you see what you
can accomplish, though, you'll probably want to learn more.

The first thing to understand is that you should only use
1-2 search terms to optimize each page. Once you've
selected a page to optimize, and the search terms you're
going to use, all you have to do is put those words in the
right places, and you're done.

Where the search terms go:

1. Your page's TITLE tag 
2. Your "keywords" and "description" META tags 
3. In a heading tag (H1, H2, or H3) near the top of the
   page 
4. In the first paragraph of body text, and repeated 1-2
   more times on the page 
5. In the text of any links that point to the page

That's 90% of search engine optimization right there. The
most important of these are #1, #3, and #4. Just try it, it
works. My "Inside Out Marketing" site uses no META tags
at all, and it gets traffic for hundreds of search terms
every month.

Step 3: Link Building & Link Popularity

"Link building" simply means getting other websites to
link to yours. If you aren't already working on this, you
need to start. Even if you don't care about search engines,
those links will bring in traffic on their own, and help
you establish a credible reputation for your website.

Link building is an important part of search engine
positioning, because search engines look at these links as
a "vote" for your website, and they will boost your
rankings accordingly when other sites link to you.

There are three simple ways to improve your site's "link
popularity," and drive traffic at the same time:

1. Submit your site to the major directories. Yahoo charges
   $299 a year for commercial sites, but there are several
   popular directories, including http://dmoz.org, 
   http://goguides.org, and http://joeant.com, that will 
   list your site for free. 
2. Trade links with related websites. You can help each
   other, and your visitors, by linking to other good
   websites. 
3. Look for other sites that have resource directories, and
   ask them to link to you. I like to look in the Open
   Directory (http://www.dmoz.org) to find related sites.

Whatever you do, don't try to take "shortcuts" when it
comes to building links. If you'd like to learn more about
link building, try Linking 101 (http://www.linking101.com) 
and Linking Matters (http://www.linkingmatters.com).

That's it! If you do these three simple things, your
search engine rankings are sure to improve. Just remember
that there are no shortcuts, and it's never a good idea to
try to "trick" the search engines. The honest approach is
easier, and much better for you and your visitors.