This could be costing you sales and applications.

** We tested it out!

We tested this on our Loans site (www.polarloans.co.uk). We delivered 1,000 visits to site where application process was a javascript function. We had 1 application.

We then switched apply buttons and links to a normal HREF link and sent another 1000 visits to it. We have a 10 fold increase in applications.

The only on-page changes were Apply button links and we drove visits via PPC spend.

** What can you do?

It maybe time you looked at major links on your site to your product sale pages on affiliate links. If they are running as Javascript functions it may be wise to try switching them to normal HREF links and test results.

You can always change them back if you need to but consider potential revenue option.

It certainly has worked for us!

meta name="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="keyword 1,keyword 2,keyword 3"

meta name="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Meaningful description of page using main keywords"

img src="filename.gif" alt="Meaningful description of picture using main keywords"

Take a look at way creators of site have used keywords in these areas, and follow their lead. You already know they’re ranked highly, so chances are they’ve done a good job. Alternatively, take a look at my site, http://www.divinewrite.com to see how I’ve done mine.

Links to your site

Now that you know how to tell search engines what you do, let’s talk about how to convince them you’re important.

Links to your site (or “inbound links”) are most important factor in ranking. The more links you have to your site from other sites, better your ranking (related sites generate better rankings).

TIP: Think of Internet as a big election. All websites in world are candidates, and all links to those websites are votes. The more votes (links) a candidate (website) has, more important it is, and higher its ranking.

There are many possible ways to generate links. Some are dubious (like auto-generation software). Others are legitimate, but offer limited results (like asking customers and suppliers to list you on their sites, and adding your site to various business directories). You can experiment with these methods, but I’ve always found best way to generate inbound links is to write helpful articles and let publishers of newsletters and e-zines use them for free – on proviso that they link back to your site.

People who publish e-Zines and newsletters are always hungry for quality content. And there are websites out there dedicated to giving them just that. If you submit a well written, relevant, helpful article to one of those sites, you can have thousands of newsletter publishers ready to snap it up. Then you just sit back and watch links multiply!

TIP: This method is beneficial in other ways too. Readers of your article will see that you know what you’re talking about, and because you’re published, they’ll see you as an authority.

It’s impossible to say how much time you’ll need to spend generating links. You just have to keep at it until you have achieved a high ranking. Even then, you’ll still need to dedicate some ongoing time to task, otherwise your ranking will drop.

Summary

So to cut a long story short, it comes down to this. If you have a lot of right keyword phrases, used in real sentences, distributed realistically throughout your site, and a lot of links from other relevant sites, you stand a good chance of being ranked highly.

That’s what you’re paying your providers for. And that’s what SEO is all about.

* Glenn Murray is an advertising copywriter. He heads copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles.