There are a few basic rules to rank well with the search engines. It is important that you follow these rules if you want to get a lot of traffic to your website(s).
1. Build quality content
There are no short cuts here: you must rely on quality content if you want to attract a lot of visitors to your website. Write your own content, give valuable information to your readers. People who visit your website will come back if they read something that they enjoy and that is unique to your website.
Search engine spiders are also looking for unique content so having your own information is also important for your search engine ranking.
2. Get quality inbound links
Having many quality inbound links to your website will definitely help your search engine ranking. To qualify as quality links, you must get links from other websites related to the same field as your own and these links must be from high ranking websites to be of any help.
This is not an easy task, but adding quality links gradually over time is a must. Search on the net for websites in the same field as yours, contact the owners of these websites and arrange for a mutually beneficial link exchange. The goal is not to get tons of low quality links but to get more and more quality links over time. This is what the search engines are looking for and will help you rank higher and get more traffic.
3. Update content
Adding unique content on a regular basis (every day if possible, at least once a week at the minimum) will generate more visits from the search engine spiders. The more often they visit your website, the better your chances of having good rankings.
Not only that, updating your content is the best way to make sure your visitors will come back on a regular basis. Building a loyal base of visitors is invaluable. That is why adding a RSS feed to your website is not enough. You need fresh content that is your own.
4. Test, test and test some more
You must rely on statistics to analyze what you are doing. Making small changes to the structure of your website can make a huge difference in the way your visitors perceive your content. Don't be afraid to make changes to your website to make it better.
Different layouts, adding pictures, new features, etc. The basic rule is that you must change only one thing at a time in order to be able to analyze if the results of this change is positive or not. Use software to track the fluctuation in the number of visitors, have a survey to ask them how they like the new change. Then you'll know if you are moving in the right direction or not.
5. Know the major keywords
Using Wordtracker or similar tools, learn what are the most popular keywords in your field. It will give you a good idea of what people are looking for and also help you to include important keywords in your text for the search engine spiders.
6. Write articles
Writing free articles in your field of expertise, with links to your website, will eventually be distributed on other websites and give you more inbound links. There are many good websites sources where you can send your articles, such as GOArticles.
7. Analyze the best, then do it even better
Know who are the leaders in your field, watch what they are doing and find a way to do things even better than they are. Get inspired by the leaders but always keep your own individual style to attract your own loyal visitors.



