by: Marcus Schroefel

In order that someone finds your website and buys your product on the Internet it is essential to make it known to the world. So the first thing you do is to submit to search engines.

But a search engine listing alone does not assure you will receive any new visitors to your Website until and unless you appear among the high rankers. Your Website must achieve higher search engine rankings in order that your customers are able to find your site promptly.

You will reach higher rankings if you follow the easy steps to optimise your website which I've compiled below:

1. Research Your Keywords!

This is the single most important aspect of search engine optimisation, so there simply is no way out. If you don't know how your visitors search for your product or service, then you are only guessing.

And can you imagine a hunter who doesn't know where to send his bullet? I bet you don't. Don't just assume you know how people are going to try and find you.

Visit your competition and look at the terms they use in the keyword tags and throughout their pages and compile a list of keywords.

You'll spend a good bit of time on this because it will payoff big later. Once you have your list, rank the phrases in order of importance starting with the most important keyword phrase.

2. Give Your Keywords Focus!

Now it is time to start getting the text for your pages ready. When doing so, you will want each of your pages to focus on one of the keyword phrases from your list. Your homepage should focus on your most important phrase and each subsequent subpage should focus on another keyword phrase.

Ideally, you should never focus on more than one or two keyword phrases per page. Trying to focus on more than this will dilute the theme of the page and could have a negative effect on your rankings.

3. Optimise Your Title Tag!

The title tag is one of the most important elements of your page. Search engines put more weight on the title tag than any other single element of your page. Your title tag should ALWAYS contain the keyword phrase you have chosen to target for that page.

Keep the tag short, no more than about 6 words generally, but make it appealing. Make the title irresistible to your visitors but keep it also short enough that you don't take away from the importance of your keyword phrase.

4. K.I.S.S. - Keep Your Pages as Simple as Possible!

Avoid overloading your page with things such as frames, excessive javascript, flash, too many graphics or image maps. This can have a negative affect on your search engine rankings.

A good rule of thumb is that the simpler the page, the better it will generally rank. Even tables, when used too much can break up the flow of the text on a page and hurt your chances at a top ranking.

5. Create Good Content!

For sure you will find top ranking sites with very little content, but you will have a much better time getting and keeping a top ranking with good content. This not only gives the engines more to index, but it gives your visitors something worth to read and absorb.

Your customers will thank you and they will be more likely to return in the future to do business. Don't just compile large lists of links – it's not very attractive to your customers.

You should make it to your personal rule to offer only high quality – no matter what target group you are trying to appeal.

6. Think Big!

What does this mean? Quite simply, it means that a site of 30 or more pages has, at least, 6 times the chances to get a top ranking as a site of 5 pages.

The more pages your site has with good, solid, quality content, the more keyword phrases you can target and the more chances you have of achieving a top ranking.

7. Create a System of Internal Linking!

You should be able to get to just about any page on your site within no more than 3 clicks. Consider creating a site map with links to all of the pages within your site. This will assist the engines in properly indexing your site.

When creating your internal links try to use the actual keyword phrase that you will be targeting on the page you are linking to as the link text. Many engines look at the visible text of a hyperlink as a description of the target page. If the visible text matches the focus of that page, it will help to give that page a boost in the rankings.

8. Build External Link Popularity!

Even if this might appear to be a long and arduous task, but it is crucial to your success. All of the top engines use link popularity quite heavily when ranking sites. It is important to note that it is not only the quantity of links that is important but also the quality of those links.

One link from a site such as Yahoo is worth as much or more than 100 links from unknown sites. Also remember, it is also important that you link to other sites. When linking to other sites, or attempting to get them to link to you, always shoot for sites that are of a similar theme as your site.

9. Monitor Your Rankings!

This is best accomplished through a program like Rank Me, WebPosition Gold, or other similar programs. If you see your position starting to slide, look at your competitors sites that have overtaken you and see if you can determine a pattern. This will tell you what you need to do to regain your position.

10. Keep Going!

Now that your're at this step keep at it, don't quit. This is just the beginning. If you don't get a top ranking right from the scratch don't get discouraged. Therefore be consistent and patient in your efforts.

This will establish a basis for building a successful business online for years to come. Heck, how did your first attempt at rideing a bike turn out?

Give yourself some time to get accustomed to this new field. Keep tracking your progress, analyse your competition, and making adjustments, and in no time at all, you will find yourself sitting among the high rankers.