There are far too many websites on the internet today claiming to have all the best content available for us readers – but when you read it you realise you’re just reading a load of rubbish that has been put together just so it targets readers like you to earn money from. This has to stop and this is where rankings in search engines come into play. Search engines have now put together their own list of rules and “algorithms” to determine how well a website ranks or whether to deem it as a website full of nonsense.

Fortunately for you, you now know this and can use it to your advantage when promoting your own website. Of course not every website is full of rubbish so you will find you have a fair few competitors to compete for that top spot you’re aiming for.

One of the most important steps when optimizing your website for search engines is to produce and write quality content for your readers. Search engines take a lot of different points into account when ranking your website – like spelling for example. If your content is written perfectly with no spelling errors you will more than likely get ranked higher in the search engines than a website with content that is poorly written and “all over the place”.

It is key to produce quality content and keep in mind that it doesn’t matter how much content you produce – if none of it makes sense you will not succeed in getting that top spot!

Popularity: 5% [?]

A big part of promoting your website goes down to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and when starting out you will most likely find a lot of tips stating that having a sitemap giving directions of where pages are helps your ranking a lot more. This is actually a proven method and many SEO experts implement this tip on all the websites they work on to give their websites better results in the rankings.

Search engines use robots otherwise known as “Spiders” or “Crawlers” to scan through your websites content to determine where your website should be placed when someone searches with keywords you target. Having a sitemap makes things so much easier for these spiders and when their job is made easy your website is given results!

The whole point of having a sitemap is mainly for these spiders and I’m sure you’ve wondered why you have seen sitemaps in the past when you don’t exactly need directions yourself – and this is the reason. I wouldn’t like to say these spiders were stupid because they are only programmed to do their job but they are more or less “clueless” when searching your content so they won’t know what content to place in the search engines without your help.

Popularity: 5% [?]

When promoting your website you may sometimes find yourself stuck on where you can gain back links and traffic – luckily here is a list of the best 25 free website directories.

1. Freewebsitedirectory.com – By far one of the most popular directories offers a paid service as well if you have the money to invest.
2. Free-website-directory.com – A lot of these directories are from a simple search and its popularity is soon noticed from the first page in Google.
3. Freewebsubmission.com – Another popular directory.
4. Noreciprocal.com – A directory that doesn’t require a link back – which is good for SEO.
5. Verifieddirectory.net – Strict directory with no spam.
6. Pegasusdirectory.com – Not the best looking website but it does the job.
7. Abcde.us – Quick acceptance.
8. Indexuk.net – Manually accepted directory so may take 24 hours.
9. Bizseo.com – 100% free with paid options.
10. Allthewebsites.org – Fantastic to submit your portfolio.
11. Freeindex.co.uk – In the UK but US websites have had good results.
12. Urlblogdirectory.com – Widely used in the web design industry.
13. Uwillfind.com – Not very popular but instant acceptance.
14. Directoryfind.net – Very small but quick acceptance.
15. Dmegs.com – Nice website easy acceptance.
16. Ezilon.com – Supported worldwide.
17. Mmli.org – Used by a large community.
18. Lazyurldirectory.com – Attracts thousands of users daily.
19. Smartlinks.us – Based in the US only.
20. Bigsplashwebsites.com – Lovely looking directory highly recommended.
21. Izdirectory.com – Not huge but worth submitting your website to.
22. Webcaredirectory.com – Manually accepted but is very quick.
23. Haabaa.com – Paid and free directory.
24. Premierdirectory.org – Well worth paying for but is free also.
25. Hitwebdirectory.com – Nice website and easy to get accepted.

Popularity: 20% [?]

These days most search engines determine the rank of your website by how many backlinks it has. This isn’t always the case as a back link from a higher ranked website can easily be just as good as or even better than 100 backlinks from a variety of lower ranked websites. It really depends on what website links to you rather than how many websites link to you so it is best advised to concentrate on gaining a few quality links rather than gaining 100 poor links.

1. One of the best proven ways of getting backlinks is by commenting on posts situated on blogs. More often than not you will get a permanent back link which may even give you a little flow of traffic. Commenting on blogs is a very boring job but can pay dividends in the long run.
2. Understanding social marketing is a really good way of achieving good quality backlinks. Being able to get your own content posted on the likes of Digg will earn your website fantastic results in the search engines.
3. Signing up to community forums with content related to your website is a good idea. You can edit your signature with a link and some keywords to your website.
4. The most valuable backlinks are ones that are “One-way”. Swapping links with another website related to yours can slightly help matters but if you can achieve one-way links without having to link back then your website will see better results.
5. Purchase permanent back links on other blogs on websites. Very expensive but permanent one-way links are the most valuable to you.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Search engine optimization is a powerful tool to make you look better in search engines –getting visibility and good reputation- and this is something that will lead you to compete and succeed in your business. Today, there are million blogs and web pages around the world fully-dedicated to a particular kind of business and is very important that you can handle a tool like SEO to compete and get the results you are expecting.

Every business requires making investments –in money and time- and you need as result cover your expenses and get some revenue. But what if you are selling laptops among a wide range of laptop vendors and you have to compete with them? Those laptop vendors that people can remember –remember their name, brands, promos, quality of service- will lead the market.

Search engine optimization is the key to make you succeed in search engine optimization and this is why you should apply these techniques to beat your competition. If you are looking for a niche where you can compete I recommend you to study the market and use tools such as Google Adword Keyword Research or any other SEO tool to identify how important is a keyword related to a product, service or need that searchers –users of the web- can have.

I highly recommend that try to use keywords that are pretty new because the less known are the keywords the faster you will rank in search engines. It is not the same sell Smartphone BlackBerry in the web that sells homes in the moon. It is good that you try to indentify a niche where you can compete and never underestimate the effectiveness of a good keyword research.

The best way to beat your competitors is offering something that is fresh and pretty new so that you can grab the attention of your visitors. Also, you should consider that SEO is your companion to take you to a very good position in search engines.

Popularity: 10% [?]