I realize that the title of my article might strike some as a bit pompous – but the fact is the top three things are what matters in most aspect of life, after that things are a bit more muddled and opinion rules the day.

So my top three SEO things to pay attention to are:

• The Top 3 SEO Methods:
• The Top 3 SEO Tags:
• The Top 3 SEO Mistakes:

TAGS! – You have to know which ones matter…

Want to know The Top 3 SEO products? Go to http://www.TheTop3.net/SEO

There are three tags that matter the most within the HTML of your pages if you want to achieve high ranking in the search engines. The top 3 tags for SEO are, in order, The Title Tag, The Header Tags, and the Meta Data tags.

The first big mistake is to not pay attention to these tags! You absolutely need a title for each and every page within your site and that title better be relevant to your key-phrases without you stuffing phrases in a spam like way. For example, if the name of your page is about “Medicated Dog Shampoo” then having a title like this:

Medicated Dog Shampoo, Dog Cleaning Supply, Best Dog Shampooing Method”

…would be good, but having a title that has every possible key-phrase would end up getting you penalized and dilutes the power of each key-phrase.

Another big mistake is that people who search for things use the simple names of things. You need to use the simple names of things as your keywords. People will search for “medicated shampoo for dogs”, but will not search for “Fancy Pants Dog Shampooing Company”. Make sure you use the former as keywords and not the latter. Yes, you company may be called “Fancy Pants” but if what you do is make shampoo for dogs – say just that.

Header Tags are the larger, bold heading for various parts of your pages. They set the sections of pages apart and they also tell the search engines some things about your pages. Pages with lots of header tags and more than one H1 tag usually indicate spammy, direct marketing ads and are treated as such by some of the more sophisticated search engines. On the other hand it is a big mistake to use CSS and not include any header tags – you should have one H1, and a few of the lower level tags scattered about your post. You should try to use your most important keywords in those headers.

Want to know The Top 3 SEO products? Go to http://www.TheTop3.net/SEO

Do not disregard the importance of your meta tags!!! This goes doubly so for the Meta description. Many so-called SEO experts will tell you that the meta description tag is unimportant for SEO results because search engines do not use that tag. That is partially true – this tag will not increase your SEO results at all. Why is it important? Because when your listing does show up, that is the sentence they see in the results page! If you have disregarded it or put stupid stuff in it, no one is going to click your link even if it is in the first position – what a waste if you worked hard to get to that position!

Finally, you have to have a quality site that makes it “stupid-simple” to navigate and understand, why? Because there are so many other choices out there that a potential customer will simply click away if there is anything that makes your site hard to use or understand. Quality and Simplicity… do not underestimate them in SEO.

One More Little Trick:

This last little trick will help you in your SEO ranking efforts. Search engines are getting more and more sophisticated especially in the are of images. Because search is still text based for the most part, the search engines are paying more attention to the alt and title fields that make up the image tag (the one that says “img”). You can get great top level results when someone does an image search by making sure you put keywords into your alt tags, and even your title tags if it makes sense for them.

SEO Software is a good way of automating this process across many sites and also allows you to make your SEO program dynamic, which search engines love. As long as your content is high-quality, the engines will reward you with good ranking – never forget that the goal of search engines is to give real human people the results they are looking for – if they don’t, the people will stop using those engines. If you set up your sites with this in mind you will succeed.

SEO is not rocket science, however there are many things you can do to impact the rankings your site will get. The bottom line is to understand the most important things…the top 3, and then produce clean, simple, high-quality content. Then you are sure to rank at the top of your game.

Want to know The Top 3 SEO products? Go to http://www.TheTop3.net/SEO

I want to introduce to you a new site that helps you find items that are “Hard to find” on the net.  Now when I say  ”Hard To Find” I don’t mean you wont get any results back in a search engine, what I mean is that much of the junk that clogs up a search has bee n filtered out, and what remains are the three most likely kinds of the thing you are looking for.  I am going to focus on Online Home-Based Business Software in particular.

Now, when you read a review or look for the best of something, there are three categories that really matter, The very best (and usually most expensive), the most features for the least money, and the “Balance” – the product that comes in between those two “extremes” if you will.

You want the best product for your money will do what it purports to do – as everyone wants value.  Most review sites however, are built on the premise of only showing all of the products, or all of the top selling products at the moment.  They may have a comparison chart if you are lucky – but that can be a pain if there are too many considerations.

But what if someone told you off the bat, based on testimonials of the actual users and based on the prices of the products, what the best three are using the criteria we outlined?  That would be a lot more useful.

Well, I am happy to report that there is such a site coming online: www.TheTop3.net.

The Top 3, is the review site for the HardToFindSoftware store – and is currently building up their lists of products and reviews.

Here is an example of their top 3 review for SEO and traffic building products.

Check out these sites if you are in the market for Business related products and software, Tutorials, Self-Defense Products, Wellness and health products, etc.  HardToFind also sells what they call “Diversions” – products that are unique and truly are hard to find or hard to get – top of the line Cuban cigars, exotic drinks and food items, etc.

David T. McKee

(Article originally titled “Look at Me! Look at Me! Getting Noticed in the Internet Marketing World Using the Protesters Model”)

Anyone who has read my blogs or other articles knows that I am a pro-Liberty minded, conservative individualist and I make no bones about it. I have been criticized for how I comport myself when I get too passionate about my views – I detest the politics and philosophical ideas of progressive liberals and socialists – mainly because they are wrong, they don’t work, and they hurt people.

But politics aside, I have to give progressive liberals, especially those we might call “the rabid protester” some credit.

They know how to get noticed.

In the internet marketing world, getting noticed (that is, positioning) is next to getting paid. The second does not happen without the first. So it behooves us to examine any tactic that actually works.

Most protest groups, no matter who they represent, suffer from many of the same problems that most nascent internet marketers suffer from: lack of both money and brand recognition. So what do rabid protesters do that internet marketers might copy that would greatly leverage their small resources in such a way as to increase brand recognition?

I believe there are some basic steps to this approach, the first three of which are:

1. Know your target audience.
2. Get your information out to your target audience.
3. Motivate your target audience to take specific action.

These three are basic and most marketers should know them – and they are no different for the rabid protester. Those protesters may look disorganized, bizarre, unprofessional, and angry, but effective protests are run with specific goals in mind, and the three principles above are never deviated from.

The first interesting thing to notice is that the target audience of the protester is NOT the people or institutions that are being protested against! That bears repeating: The specific audience of the protester is not those whom they are protesting against.

The protesters audience is like minded people. Their primary (and usually unstated) goal is to motivate those who believe as they do to join with them and then work toward their stated goals.

So I have developed a list of seven points in the order of their priority on how to get noticed in the Internet world. Notice how protesters use most if not all of these to achieve their stated goal, which is the first item on the list.

1. Have a Specific, Stated Goal.
2. Position Yourself Where Your Target Audience is.
3. Be Interesting, Be Different, Be Crazy – Your Unique Brand.
4. Have A Unique Selling Position.
5. Don’t Be Afraid Of Offending People.
6. Give Back, Give Away, And Give Value.
7. Be the Expert, Even If You Are Not.

So we begin by having a specific stated goal. You need to know what you’re selling and what you wish to accomplish. Then you need to put yourself where your target audience is – they don’t buy what they can’t see. This is perhaps one of the more difficult tasks to perform in today’s Internet, you don’t want to be labeled a spammer, but there are just so many blogs, websites, links and social networks they are outstripping the people who use them. How do you get noticed even if you are where the customers are?

The protester gets loud, garish, holds big signs, gathers tones of people is a small place, and sits where everyone has to pass by them, in other words they position themselves.

The next principle states that you must be interesting, different, and even crazy! You must present a unique brand so that you don’t look like all the rest. This segues right into your Unique Selling Position – an essential you must have. You have to be able to give the so-called “elevator pitch” of your product, the protester know how to do this – they scream their USP’s in your ear!

The fact is, if you are going to be different, unique, and stick out, you are going to bother somebody out there – well, as they say, even bad publicity is better then none! People will be offended by your marketing techniques – they may even call you a spammer, or worse… even though all you are doing is making sure everyone sees what you have to offer! Too bad, they don’t have to buy it, but you must sell it if you are going to survive.

You have to give good value, and be willing to give bonuses and free stuff – not junk either but really good stuff. That is how you attract anything from flies to customers – by having really good stuff to give away. When customers see the value of your free stuff, they will really value what they buy from you – provided your products and services are excellent as well. Most well run protests give away at least some T-shirts and bumper stickers.

Finally, in light of the last point, you need to make it your business to be the expert – continually improving. You need to position yourself as the expert even if you are not… There will always be someone who knows a little bit more than you, but you can always learn more and then be better than you were. Be the expert, and make sure your customers know you are.

I will be writing more on this topic as I address each of the seven points specifically in future articles, so start thinking of ways you can “bootstrap” yourself into that vast landscape of the Internet, or wherever you do business.

- David T. McKee

P.S. If you want to start being the expert in Internet business right now, may I suggest buying a compilation of Internet Business, Marketing, and Copywriting books, articles and reports written by some of the most well known internet businessmen such as Yanik Silver, Michel Fortin, Dan Lok, Joe Vitale, and many others. This is a collection of over 250 books, reports and articles: Marketing Magic Collection 1 For only Seven Bucks ($7.00).

Note: This is copy-righted content, Copyright  2008, David T. McKee