7 SEO TIPS TO MAKE MORE MONEY ONLINE

Here at Just About SEO we’re all about making money by driving traffic from search engines, but I often see some common mistakes that prevent new marketers from maximizing their income. Here are 7 SEO related tips to help you get more money out of your site, whether it is a niche blog or a flagship monster of a site.

There is Only Page One - Actually, there is only top 5. If you have a ranking on page two, you don’t have anything. Of course, you can get traffic on page 2 and 3, but it is very small. I own a rank on page 3 to 4 for the term SEO. This is a high traffic term and I can tell you my ranking for SEO hands me very little traffic. All you guys putting “Make Money Online” in your title and ranking #150, you’re wasting your time, which moves me on to my next point.

Start Long, Then Go Short - We’re talking about long tail keywords, which are more focused, low competition, and low traffic keywords. These allow you to quickly dominate your keyword. “But Justin, long tail keywords are worth so little”. My #7 to #10 ranking for “SEO Tips” sends me more traffic than my #30 ranking for “SEO”. Hell, I get more traffic from brand keyword searches than I do “SEO”. So my advice is to set your goal as a long tail variant of your primary term. So if you want “Make Money Online” for example, do “Learn How to Make Money Online” first, then “How to Make Money Online”, then “Make Money Online”, and finally “Make Money”. The traffic earned at each stage will allow you to grow and make money while you build toward the golden phrase.

Target Multiple Keywords Per Page - When you develop a page title, be creative and use a phrase that works in multiple keywords. Of course, using “Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Keyword 3″ will work, but it looks more “for SEO only” -ish, but look at the title of this post. “7 SEO Tips to Make More Money Online”. The title is catchy and could be used as link bait. People will link to me with this title more than they would to a “keyword rich” title. And look at all the keywords it targets, here is just a small list: how to make more money, make money online tips, make more money, make more money online, making money online tips, making more money, seo tips, ways to make more money, etc. If someone links to me with the post title, I get keyword authority for all those phrases. I still use the keyword rich method on my niche affiliate sites, but I’ve seen great value in targeting many keywords in one title in a very natural way.

It is Still About Links - Sometimes I make SEO too complicated, like my last post on the role of outbound links and the impact of leaking juice. I love theory and that is why the primary topic of this blog is “SEO” and the secondary topic is “making money”. All theory aside though, ranking is still about links. The SEO game is shifting, but if you’re just learning the basics of running a site, all you need to know is that rankings are about links. Don’t let all the discussion that goes on here about theories and ideas hold you back. Just remember, you need to get other sites to talk about you and link to you with relevant words.

Humans Give the Best Links - I harp on tools around here, because my affiliate marketing strategy involves promoting many sites. I do this for fun, education, and money. Automated methods are an amazing way to spread out your link profile, but remember that humans give the best links. If you want to rank for any semi-competitive term, you need to focus on the human element to gain “good links”. These may involve linkbait, building a resource, networking, or buying links.

Every Niche Is Different - People fall into a situation where they expect every project to play out the same. Questions like “how many links do I need”, “how long does this take”, and “what monetization should I use” all depend. I’m under the belief that Google uses niche / keyword specific algorithms and niche / keyword dependent requirements. I’ve seen tactics work great in one niche and do nothing in another. I’ve seen how over optimization can hurt you in a competitive niche. I’ve seen exact match links rank long tail niche sites with no problem, but hurt me in competitive niches. I’ve run a site with 5,000 unique vistors a day that, for several months, ranked in the top 5 for EVERY related keyword, but not in the top 100 for the main keyword. All of the search traffic came from long tail phrases and 0 visitors came from the keyword I was targeting, even though the top guy had a PR 1 and I had 500% more links. Also, the traffic is not always the same. Traffic is often segmented and some keywords are heavy in some demographics. If I know 80% of a site’s visitors are 18 to 30 year old men, than that gives me a lot of power. I know how to bait links from that age demographic and I know how to sell to them. In that case, I am a member of the demographic I am marketing to, so I know how to network with them. Knowing that a blog’s owner is a 25 year old guy who plays WoW vs a 45 year old who runs a hunting blog, is a big difference. I can convince that 25 year old to give me a link, but that hunting guy is a lot harder (for me, but maybe not for you). Being successful in one niche, does not mean you’ll be successful in another.

Your Monetization May Not Be Appropriate - Too many people push Adsense as a monetization method because it is “easy” to setup, but it is not a good monetization method for everyone. I don’t click Adsense ads. I don’t think I’ve ever clicked an Adsense ad with the intent to convert. If you want to make money from users like me, you need to consider another method. If I find a nice niche with a keyword like “buy product”, I’m not going use Adsense, I’ll use phpBay. When looking at keywords, consider the demographic that keyword pulls in and the intent of the user. If you’re trying to make money with Adsense, that needs to be considered when you are finding keywords.