Google Pagerank: 0 to 3 in 12 months

Not a spectacular accomplishment, but an accomplishment none the less. Especially if you consider how many websites are out there for years and never achieve any pagerank.

I am not an SEO expert, nor do I know everything there is to know about building websites. I’m an average person with an online business.

My first step was to purchase desktop software so I would not have to rely on the onsite builders offered by most hosting company’s. I wanted to have complete control over every aspect of the design, keywords, content and SEO of this site and the only logical way to do this was to not be reliant on software that didn’t quite do what I needed it to do.

After a bit of research and advise from a mentor I decided on XsitePro. Designed specifically for network marketing it gave me the advantage of being able to check things like keyword density, alt tags, meta tags, total number of words on page as well as other important SEO qualities.

The next step was Keyword Research. Knowing what keywords work for your site and your industry will play an important role in the success or failure of your website. Sure you can get lucky using keywords that are standard within your industry, but knowing which words are good, profitable and niche is what will make your site stand out above the rest.

I limited the total number of keywords for each page to 10 or less. This doesn’t mean I used only 10 or less keywords within a page, I only listed 10 or less. This created a keyword rich page that was very SEO friendly.

I tried to use solid keywords within my industry to name each of the pages within my site. There is some debate on whether this is a good strategy for solid SEO, but it seems to work for my site.

I also spent a fair amount of time on developing my site content. Providing good quality and unique content is just as important as SEO for your website. It needs to flow as if conversational and it needs to provide information. I made it a point not to use the typical hype that is so common in MLM, but did try to inject my own excitement for my business and product line.

I paid particular attention to the Meta tags for each page. Many people use the Meta tag as an advertisement when it’s purpose is to describe the page. Earlier websites I had built never did well and part of the reason is because of how I used Meta tags and the overuse of keywords which tagged the site with the major search engines as a spam site.

Paying attention to your alt tags is also important. Again the proper use of an alt tag is not to provide an additional advertisement, but instead to provide a description of the image associated with the alt tag.

Link strategy has always been an issue for me and my websites. I knew paying for links could harm my site and link exchanges pretty much cancel each other out so I had to find a way to bring in some one way links that were legit.

I currently am using several techniques to achieve links into my site. Articles are a primary source for inbound links to my site. I also use endorsements of other products and services which provide links into my site. And I’ve put other domains I own up as mini sites or landing pages that link to my primary site.

Traffic is another important factor for any website. Simply putting up a website does not automatically mean you will have traffic. When you start a new site you have to let people (your target audience) know that it’s there.

Because of the massive amount of money I had lost in my first two years of business, my husband pulled in the purse strings. This meant I had to find creative ways to drive traffic to my site that did not cost money.

I had used Traffic Exchanges in the early days of my business and I decided to revisit that option. I opened accounts with several exchanges and started surfing. It was slow in the beginning but picked up after a couple of weeks. I continue to use traffic exchanges to drive traffic to my site, and while it’s not “targeted” traffic, I view any traffic as good traffic.

Now that it has been just over a year and I have seen a steady increase of search engine traffic generated by my choice of keywords grow. Natural traffic doesn’t happen overnight and to get it you have to take the time to do the keyword research and find those profitable keywords and niche keywords that will put your site on the first 2 or 3 pages in the search engines.

Amazingly enough, many of the terms used are quality keywords that are not listed in my keyword list. This was surprising to me and helped to reaffirm the importance of providing quality content for my site visitors.

Understand your own industry and make your choices based on what works within that industry. Provide your site visitors with information they are looking for and take the time to do your keyword research. These steps will set your website apart from the others.

How My Home Business Benefited Me when I could not Work my Business

I have had my home business since January 2005. My first two years I spent following blindly what I was told to do. This was not profitable for me or my business and only put money in the pockets of those above me.

I managed to start using my common sense in late 2006, early 2007 and rebuild the foundation of my business based on facts and not hype and have enjoyed a profitable home based business since January 2007.

Clearly a business that is in profit is something to enjoy, but the major benefit was realized late last year when I suffered a catastrophic health event that put me in the local ICU.

You may be wondering how that could possibly be a benefit for my business and the truth is that on the surface it would seem to be a horrible event for me personally as well as for my business.

The fact is that because I took the time early in 2007 to rebuild my business foundation and retrain those in my downline, my business ran without me and continued to make money while I was in the hospital.

The key factors that were changed in early 2007 were my dependence on my upline and sponsor for information on how to run my home business. I also changed my focus from the heavy ad campaigns I was running to building a website that was user friendly as well as SEO friendly.

I also provided my distributor base with usable tools that were understandable and easy to use with the added benefit of being free. Training was implemented and directed towards what my team members wanted and not what had been dictated to me in my first two years.

Because I was in the hospital for a while I asked one of my distributors to maintain my team forum for me and she was able to do so with no issues primarily because of the effort that was put into the forum and the amount of information that was provided to the team on the forum.

My own realization that my home business was built on old school marketing techniques as well as far too much hype enabled me to honestly reassess my business and start the process of determining what was important to me and what my own goals were. The most important goal was to start earning money and get the business into profit.

I tossed out the hype, buzz words and old school techniques and had my home business in profit in less than 30 days and have maintained a profitable business ever since. Because I was able to see the flaws of what I was doing prior to January 2007, I have benefited from a profitable business even while I was confined without the ability to work in an ICU.

Would these methods work for you in your home business? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on you and what your goals are. Use your own common sense and decide what you need to gain from your business. Once you have done that it’s easy to set your goals and start moving forward.

I will also note that I stopped all paid advertising for my primary business and have relied on the knowledge I gained from about my industry and solid SEO for my websites since January 2007. My business continues to grow and earn more profits each month which gives me the freedom to explore other money making opportunities that I can work from home.

Defining Success in a Home Based Business

Success is one of those words that is tossed around the home based business arena quite often. Those of us who start home based businesses generally are able to illustrate clearly the reason we did so. Earning money to contribute to the household income, being able to stay at home with the kids and for some simply as a hobby to fill their time.

Regardless of why you start a home business, defining your success can only be done by you. You see, you know better than anyone what you need out of your home based business. This is not something that should be dictated to you by your sponsor or upline.

Keeping your focus on your own success should always be your priority over helping your sponsor or upline achieve their success. They will benefit from your success only if you achieve the level of success as defined by them.

This simple revelation took me the better part of two years to discover and this journey was not a profitable one for me. I was losing money every month in my business with the majority of my business expenditures going into affiliate programs and purchasing leads from those in the business above me. It’s important to note that a business that consistently loses money is one that will eventually dry up and close its doors while a business in profit rarely closes its doors.

I have often talked about the steps I took to rebuild my home based business into one that was profitable, but the most important step I took was deciding to define my own success.

For me it was as simple as getting my business into profit. This didn’t just mean breaking even, I needed to see cash after the monthly expenses were paid for. This realization propelled me into a new way of looking at my home based business and started a domino effect that has resulted in the realization that I could have a profitable business.

Think about the reasons you started your business, or the reasons you are thinking about starting a business. List them and use that list to help you define what success is for you. For some it could be as simple as generating a hundred dollars a month to help pay for a household bill. For others it could be the ability to become financially independent or the avenue for quitting your day job.

I know that once you’ve made the list you won’t see helping my sponsor or upline achieve their success on your list, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is your business not theirs.

The role of a sponsor is sometimes lost in the hype of a company. A good sponsor will do what they can to help you define your success and provide you with tools and resources necessary to achieve that success regardless of how it benefits them.

Your ability to define your own success also relates closely to taking responsibility for your home based business. While it is great to have a sponsor or upline willing to provide the tools and resources to help you achieve your success, ultimately it’s up to you as the business owner to use the tools and resources provided. Furthermore if those tools or resources aren’t working for you, it’s up to you to find the ones that do work in your situation.

Expecting anyone other than yourself to build your business is irresponsible and frankly not a solid business plan. Defining your own success is just one of the puzzle pieces that will help you to build your home based business successfully and earn you the income you desire.