Search Engines can Be a Beast, especially when you are just starting out. Here is a question asked by a site owner stumped by Search Engines.

SEO Issues - Where to Start?

My biggest question is more an ongoing issue than a question. I have SEO issues. More like, It's just not very easy to do and I never really know if I've done it correctly or if I've done all that I need to do to drive targeted traffic to my site. I get traffic because I have an Adwords campaign, but I don't want to rely totally on paid advertising if I can generate some traffic via search engines. There's some, but I just don't quite get the whole Google thing. I never know where I am with them. From what I've read neither do a lot of website publishers.

From guest expert Cathy Wagner ...
Search engine optimization is a big topic and some people have based an entire career on studying search engines and how to get better ranking. So, my comments below in no way constitute a complete answer, but I think they cover the basics.

You need meta-tags. Today, some people say keyword meta-tags aren't as important as they once were, but I still use them. Some search engines still look at them and it's a good way to focus and decide what your keywords should be. Here's a good keyword tool if you need help choosing the specific keywords that people actually use in searches http://www.goodkeywords.com

You need keywords in your text. This is very important. The number of times a particular keyword appears in your text tells a search engine how thoroughly your site covers this topic. Here is a good tool to check the "keyword density" of your web site text http://www.abakus-internet-marketing.de/tools/topword.html

You need links to your site from other sites. This is also very important, but don't rush right out and try to get your link on every site you see. The links that will really do you good are those that are on related sites. I've also found a URL in the resource box of an article that gets published on a variety of sites can greatly improve "link popularity" (which is the term search engines use to measure how many site link to you.) Here's a good tool to measure link popularity http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/link-popularity/

Another factor in search engine ranking is time. Once you've done what you can do, keep an eye out for linking opportunities and wait. In the meantime, there's plenty of other ways to market your site, too.

Hope this helps,

Cathy Wagner
Online Business Expert
Providing Freedom Seeking Entrepeneurs with Low-Risk, Online Profit-Building Guidance.
ONE STOP Internet Business Services

And, here's a little from me, Nicole Dean, owner of ShowMomTheMoney.com  --

One thing about SEO that I am slowly beating into my head is that every single page of my website should be considered a separate site. For instance, I wouldn't want to optimize my page about "Organizing Your Kitchen" the same as I'd optimize my page about "Business Opportunities" -- and even a level deeper -- if you have one article on a page, optimize for THAT topic. Don't use my site as an example for perfect meta-tags as I'm learning with all of you and changing it every day, but that simple fact will help you to view your website as many different websites -- each needing to be optimized.

Find keywords that are specific, not general. Like with an article in my Organization section, I wouldn't use the keyword "House" -- what is someone who types in 'houses' in google looking for? Buying a house, building a house, selling a house, a birdhouse, a dollhouse? That's just silly to compete for that. But, I could start researching keywords like "clean house" or "declutter house" until I found one that is just right.

If you haven't listened to the free course Truth About Traffic yet, please do. I've listened to it 3 or 4 times now, while doing puzzles with the kids or coloring. It took me until the second time to really start to understand the concepts and I know I still have a long ways to go. SEO is one of THE best free ways to bring traffic to your site. Please don't give up on it. :)  Plus, there are bunches of free ebooks to help you get traffic at www.free-ebooksonline.com