Most online businesses appreciate being able to do things themselves …I know I do. It not only saves me money but I learn a few things along the way  

SEO isn't hard; it's just a matter of knowing the key strategies, understanding why they work and putting them into practice.  As soon as you start doing them they'll become second nature to you and pretty soon you'll be doing them without even thinking about it. 

So if you've got a website and want to optimize it without hiring a professional or using expensive tools, here's what you need to do …       

Use Your Best Keywords
This is a pretty important one and you should really take your time to examine your options. For example, each page of your site should be optimized for the best keywords possible.  Start by 'summing up' what the page is really about, then ask yourself what keywords accurately describe the content.  Once you have a good list of about 2 or 3 keyword phrases use a keyword tool like Wordtracker to determine which keywords get the most searches and have the least amount of competing web pages.

Learn to stay away from general words like pets, candy, shoes, computers; instead look for niche long tail keywords like 'women’s red tennis shoes' or 'black licorice candy sticks'.  Long tail phrases like this target several keywords, for example, ‘black licorice candy sticks' includes the keywords, 'black licorice', 'licorice candy' and 'licorice candy sticks'.

Create Search Engine Friendly Content
The search engines have always looked for content however it's more important than ever.  That means you have to focus on creating only good, quality content that is unique and useful. 

You also have to make sure the search engines can read it. Flash content or text embedded in images can't be read by the search engines. You're far better off using anchor text and make use of 'alt' text in your images.   Also use your best keywords that you wish to rank high for in the body of your text, use heading tags correctly and don't try to hide text by blending it into the background of the page.

Ensure Your Content Gets Indexed
Once you create content and upload it to your site or blog, check to see if it has been indexed by the search engines.  This may take a few days, however if you don't get indexed it may be because the site is still fairly new, there may be duplicate content, there may be links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML, it could have poor site architecture or has orphaned pages or various other factors.  If your site isn't getting indexed try writing to Google and asking them. Their responses can sometimes be a little cryptic but sometimes they do provide a few good suggestions. 

Get inbound links
Inbound links are simply your links that appear on other websites. If you have lots of quality sites that display your website's URL the search engines determine this as a vote for your site.  There are lots of ways to get inbound links, all of which are completely free methods.  However those sites that contain your link should be well-established sites that have quality ranking themselves.

Exchanging links with other sites is still an acceptable method but there are much better ways.  Keep in mind that using link farms and buying links are frowned upon with the search engines so avoid them.  Here are the methods that work best:  

• Submit to directories like Yahoo! Bizdirectory.org, DMOZ, Joeant.com and others
• Find blogs that relate to your site’s topic and make constructive comments or ask questions.
• Write articles that contain your website link and submit them to relevant websites and article directories
• Submit a press release that creates a backlink to your site. 

Start participating in social media and bookmarking communities
Social media and bookmarking is pretty new but it's creating quite a buzz and sites using them are experiencing some amazing traffic results. Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Furl, Digg, Del.icio.us Reddit, and Technorati provide users a way to store their favorite pages and media online plus share it with others.

In addition services like Facebook and Myspace provide services for creating a comprehensive profile that gives you a way to promote your content which in turn helps you create your own personal "buzz" throughout the internet. 

A word of advice, social communities won't do much for you if you are pushing or promoting products.  Social media is based solely on popularity, so if what you are sharing with people isn't interesting, unique and of interest to them you won't generate much interest. 

If you're pretty much on track with all of the above suggestions …and I hope you are, but you need to get on a faster track, then you're probably an excellent candidate for Traffic Secrets 2.0.  It's designed for the user that needs more of a competitive edge by getting the high octane strategies that can sky rocket your traffic.  It's definitely worth a peek.   

You've got nothing to lose except tons of traffic.

So what’s the secret to getting Adsense to generate enough income to make it worth your while?

Here are a few Adsense tips for higher revenue that have worked for me.

Niche sites produce higher Adsense payouts

Niche web sites typically generate more revenue simply because of the better search engine placement they get from being tightly focused.  But not just any niche will do.  The idea is to choose a niche that does well in the advertising market and that merchants are willing to pay more for advertising.  Finance and loans is one such example.

Target the right keywords

To complement the above statement you need to find the keywords.  High paying keywords will point you to the high paying niche markets.

So you definitely want to find the keywords that pay the most.  Overture use to have a nifty keyword bidding tool that told you how much was being bid for a keyword however that tool is no longer available, too bad because I really liked it :- (  But after searching around for some time I came across Keyword Country

I found it to be quite useful for finding keywords. I’ve used Wordtracker a lot and still use it for my websites, blogs and advertising but found that it doesn’t give me the CPC and the variety of the high paying keyword data that I need for using Adsense.

The problem is that a keyword may have a cost per click (CPC) of $50 or more, but its estimated cost per click (EPC) may only be $0.80.  Consequently the problem to overcome is finding keywords that have a high CPC but also offer you a high EPC; you also need to know that there are enough advertisers for keywords. So you need a good tool that’s going to give you this information accurately and Keyword Country does a great job of giving you thorough data.

Placement of Adsense Ads
Google suggests that the wider ads perform better and this is because of their reader-friendly format.

If you have an article page, placing ads directly below the end of the article typically perform better. That’s probably because when a visitor finishes reading an article they are thinking about what to do next, if there’s a compelling ad right there for them, they are likely to click on it.

AdSense blocks wrapped between the quality content also works well.  You can use the medium or large rectangle format and place it in the flow of your content or to the right or left of it for best results.

For the websites having poor quality content, placing the Ads before the start of the content works well, but keep in mind that if you have a poor quality content website, you might get a high number of clicks, but you will be getting low priced ads. On the other hand, if you have quality content that keeps the visitors interested you may get a low CTR, but you will be getting high priced ads and regular visitors.

If you have horizontal links at the top of your page or at the bottom of your page that look like this:

Home  |  newsletter  |  About  |  Free Ebook  | Archives |  forum

Try displaying one of the following Adsense horizontal link units directly under your horizontal links:

(468×15) Displays up to 5 links
(468x15_4) Displays up to 4 links
(728×15) Displays up to 5 links
(728x15_4) Displays up to 4 links

Blend your Adsense Ads for Higher Revenue

If you can blend your ads into your website so as not to make them look like ads you’re likely to get more clicks.  For example, removing the border and changing the background color so it blends with your sites background color is a popular strategy.

Use the same color schemes for you ad that your website uses. If your headline text color is green then using green for your ad’s title will help it blend better.   I like to keep the text of the ad in black and I use a dark gray color for the actual link color.  Some suggest that keeping the link color in blue is better, however preferences vary there and I haven’t experienced much of a difference in click through either way.

Blending your ads is pretty standard stuff but I’m amazed at how many people don’t do this.

Use the Adsense Heat map
Google’s done their homework in this area and based on tests and experience their Adsense Heat map illustrates the best locations on your web page to place your ads for higher click through.

It’s also a good idea to keep your ads above the fold of your website.  Keep in mind that this map is just a guideline and everyone will experience different click through rates, so it’s always wise to experiment and take notes on what works and what doesn’t.

Google Adsense Update:

Google Adsense just recently updated (Feb, 2008) their Google AdSense Online Standard Terms and Conditions located at:

https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms

If you use Adsense you would have received a notice to agree to the changes.  What you may not have noticed is that Google is requiring Adsense users to update their website’s privacy policy.

If you look closely at the terms and conditions under the ‘program participation’ section, you will notice at the end of the paragraph the statement that says:

“You must have and abide by an appropriate privacy policy that clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browser, or using web beacons to collect information, in the course of ads being served on your website.  Your privacy policy should also include information about user options for cookie management.”

This means that if you use Google Adsense Ads on your website you must place a notice within your privacy policy that mentions the above.  If you need an example you can have a look at my Homenotion Terms of Use.

For a lot more quality professional tips, Joel Comm, the Adsense specialist, is practically giving away his Adsense Secrets

Best,
Elizabeth