Having worked online as a Web marketer since 2005, I’ve seen just about every trick and gimmick imaginable for improving a page’s standing in the search engines. Naturally most of these suggested tactics are unethical, and therefore end up contributing to the creation of new strictures within the search algorithms.

The ironic thing is, you really don’t need any trickery to get the search engines to like you. All this black hat nonsense is just a big waste of time and it ends up causing more problems than it solves.

The pattern works as follows:

Every couple of months a new set of childish tactics is hailed as the next big thing for faking out the search algorithms and getting a page to the top of the rankings. Thousands of marketers who either don’t know any better or just aren’t capable of quality Web development climb on the bandwagon and for a couple of months all participants enjoy improved search engine position.

Invariably, the minds behind the Web’s leading search engines catch on to the hoodwinking, adjust their algorithms and level severe penalties against Webmasters caught using the most recent black hat techniques. Sometimes this will result in a domain being chucked completely out of the search index.

This is especially tragic when otherwise honest site owners have been given bad advice from so-called SEO experts. Generally speaking, there is no process for appeal once your site has been banned from Google or otherwise flagged as a black hat operation.

The good news is you need not worry about this sort of trouble if you simply resolve to steer clear of all suspect SEO strategies. Be sure to do your research and check in with the Web’s more reputable search marketing authorities before executing a new technique.

It’s really not hard to spot a black hat trick. Your gut will tell you if the method is questionable, and again if it’s above the radar you’ll certainly find info about it on any number of honest marketing blogs.

To help you avoid some of the guesswork, I’m going to give you some standard advice on what makes a good, search engine friendly piece of Web property. These rules of thumb haven’t changed since 2003 and it’s unlikely they’ll stop working any time in the future.

First, you need to understand that search engines are looking for exactly the same thing on a page that a human user is looking for: quality! Keep this in mind as you build your pages and set up your blogs and you can’t go wrong.

The most important onsite element for good SEO is your title tag. This needs to include one to three solid keyword phrases. Your title is not only crucial to feeding the search spiders, it’s also the heading that will be displayed when your site appears in the search results.

Next is your META description tag. There is some controversy as to whether the major engines still look at this tag, but I’m telling you right now Google does. Not only will a good application of your main keywords help your ranking, you should know the META description is the text that shows up beneath your title in the results listings.

Within your main page content, be sure to exercise good keyword placement with your H1, H2, and other heading tags. Also experiment with putting relevant keyword phrases into strong, italic, and underline tags to let spiders know where important terms are on your page.

And don’t forget to name your images, links, and other files as keyword phrases. This little-used tactic allows you to slip a few extra keywords into a page without stuffing your content.

When using a blog, be absolutely sure to insert several relevant tags into the appropriate field with all your posts. This function is incredibly effective at getting the attention of the search engines and can result in your posts being indexed literally within minutes.

It’s also a smart move to put together a simple site map. This is essentially a linkage index that allows the spider bots to crawl your entire site quickly and easily. There are a number of sitemap generators online that make this process quick and easy for you.

Taking the above tips into consideration, remember to keep it natural! If you go to absurd lengths to add excessive keywords into your page content you’ll be flagged as a search spammer and end up getting the dreaded slap for it.

If you apply this simple formula for building your pages, you’ll have search engine friendly Websites every time. The only thing left to do is acquire lots of quality back links and watch your ranking improve over time.

Tim Whiston is a professional entrepreneur who enjoys helping other entrepreneurs achieve success. He would love to teach you the basics of Web design with his comprehensive Website Creation Course.
 

A quality Web design course can arm you with the skills and knowledge for making big money as a Web designer, or just give you the confidence to build your own fabulous site with ease. But you don’t have to spend big bucks and years of your time on a college degree to become a first rate Webmaster.

In fact there are multiple online Web design courses that will give you a basic, intermediate, and even expert level of skill in the Web development arena. Some of these courses are available in the form of free tutorials on public pages, others are accessible in video format via secure member’s area, and still others can be downloaded and studied in PDF.

Some Web design courses are free, and others require a nominal investment. The thing to remember is you often get what you pay for online, and any free course on something as complex as Website design is not likely to be well-organized and comprehensive.

This is not to say there are no good free courses available. There very well may be but it’s best to select a program based on the quality of the content and presentation rather than the price tag.

You’ll already be saving big money by not taking a college Web design course. You can find a variety of great programs for less than $50, and instead of gambling on a set of freebie tutorials with zero backend support I advise you invest some cash into an option that gives you at least basic follow-up instruction.

For example, a downloadable Web design course might cost between $25 and $40, and this price includes free lifetime expansion modules. In other words you pay one fee up front and you receive every updated version of the course material for the rest of your life.

The very valuable skill of Web design and management is certainly worth a little money. And again, by investing with a professional company you’ll get at least basic ongoing support and be able to ask a few questions if you get stumped.

Regardless of how much you budget for your Web design course, you should select a program with a good amount of positive, public feedback. This can be in the form of customer testimonials, informal reviews posted at forums and/or blogs, or any other form of consumer input you can find on the matter.

The idea is to find out what previous users have to say about the Web design course you are considering. This kind of social proof is priceless, and will give you an idea of how real people responded to the course material.

Did many people find the lessons too complicated? Or do previous users report the course was easy to understand and learn?
Do the course chapters provide great detail and accuracy? Or do people complain that many important points were left out of the material?

If most of the feedback you can find is in the positive, you should feel comfortable moving forward. On the other hand if loads of people complain, you may want to look elsewhere for a Web design course.

Also, any good digital information product should include a money-back guarantee. This statement usually infers that you can request a refund for 30 to 90 days after purchase if you aren’t satisfied with the content. Such a guarantee is a solid courtesy that should never be abused; only exercise your right to a refund if you find the material is seriously lacking and not worth the price you paid.

Finally, the ideal Web design course should be open-ended. This means the creators should make clear that new material is added on a regular basis.

Web development is a skill that changes with time. The course you choose needs to be flexible and ready to add new content as needed; ideally you should get free access to future additions when you pay the entry fee.

Quickly and easily learn Web design with our amazing online course. You’ll be an ace Webmaster in no time with this full-blown Web design course at your disposal.

Drag and drop Website builders seem like the easy way out, but the truth is these “tools” often result in poor code structure, which in turn can mean reduced search engine friendliness. Also, you just don’t have full flexibility when you are relying on software; if you make a mistake you are often stuck with it unless you want to scrap the document and start over because many software apps don’t know how to fully delete your previous steps before moving forward.

I realize this may not make a lot of sense to people who are not versed in HTML. But the fact is using a cookie-cutter builder usually doesn’t work out as planned.

If you don’t want to learn the right way to build your Web pages, hire a pro to handle this for you.

And if you do decide to tackle your own design, you may want to use a site builder that actually creates correct code and teaches you the ropes as you work. An example is the WFX Site Builder.

This software is not a drag and drop utility, and you’ll actually have to use code when working. But you can use point and click commands to enter the HTML tags without a lot of typing, and the tool is linked up to hundreds of good tutorials to help you learn as you go.

I urge you to forget about drag and drop toys and go with a real Website builder.

Alternatively you may want to go ahead and learn Web design from top to bottom with our super easy online course. It’s newbie safe and expert approved, and you’ll get free updates to new material for the rest of your life if you join now.