And no, I did ‘NOT’ mean the title to rhyme with ‘Firefox’ =P. But come on, I’m still wondering why so many Internet Explorer (I.E.) users don’t switch to Firefox ? (Please let me know if you have such reasons).

For one thing, if you’re browsing with the virus-prone Internet Explorer, you will ‘probably’ get tons of discombobulated pictures of gazillions of websites due to ‘browser incompatibility’ (mine included .

O.K. I may sound biased, since my sites aren’t looking too pretty in I.E.–but it’s true.

So, below I’ll give you–my fellow visitors who are still using the so-named I.E.–a list of 7 reasons why you should change to Firefox ASAP:

1. Firefox is very up-to-date and is extremely secure for browsing the web: Firefox automatically tells you what to download when there’s a security update. With I.E….what can I say: how many times have I/you gotten viruses, adwares, spywares, ect from using it? Why is it so? It’s because I.E. is the product of Microsoft, and because Microsoft has long established itself as the big CORP, you would understand that many have tried to successfully hack the living out of I.E.
2. With Firefox, you have ‘targeted’ pop-up blockers. With I.E., it’s a COMPLETE opposite. Just take this message from I.E. for example: “You’re about to view pages over a secure connection. Any information you exchange with this site [Yahoo] cannot be viewed by anyone else on the Web.” Whoo-pity-do, so it’s secure and no info can be viewed by others. What’s your point with the ‘pop-up’ I.E.?
3. If you want to have multiple tabs, multiple home pages, multiple etc, WITHOUT having to updgrade/buy more of MS stuffs, you need Firefox!
4. If you are serious about search engine optimization (SEO), you need Firefox.
5. If you want customization, versatility and management, then you need Firefox: downloads Firefox’s gazillion of plugins like you do with WordPress .
6. If you want me to show you how to use Firefox in your search & optimization effort, then consider Firefox.
7. And above all, if you you do not want to get annoyed by all the websites breaking up all over places in I.E., please consider switching to Firefox! Firefox is web-surfers & webmaster friendly .

So now you ask, “Why I have such a fired passion for Firefox?” Well, if you have seen all my sites in Internet Explorer, you’ll… …

So, please get Firefox now, if you haven’t Internet ExplorerS.

I personally recommend Firefox Portable: it’s free, and if you want to make your Firefox browser to look exactly like I.E. or any way you want it, check out this page .

O.K. Best of luck to your hopefully ’seamless’ transition to Firefox. O.K. then, adieu Internet ExplorerS.

*P.S. As you can see, from now on I’ll go ALL-OUT promoting

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Wait!–Hold your horses . Let me first explain ‘what is search engine optimization‘?

To simply put, the ultimate aim of legitimate search engine optimization (SEO) is to get more visitors to a search engine optimized website. This simply means that search engine optimization’s goal is to make a website appear on the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs), so the ‘chance’ of people click-through to your search engine optimized website is HIGHER than those on the 2nd or 3rd page of the SERPs.

Thus, one reason why you should choose search engine optimization is because with more visitors from the free organic search, you have more means and ways to monetize your website .

There are other ways to get on the first page of the search engine results page too, but–you’ve guessed it–it’s NOT free (e.g. pay-per-click program like Google Adwords .

In case you didn’t know, search engines evaluate websites by using what they call “spiders” or “bots,” and these bots and spiders have NAMES too =P. (Check your website’s raw log and you can see them all over the place–well, if your site is nested with quality content that is .

Anyway, these spider bots visit and scan your website and collect information about it. The information then gets collated and passed on to the search engine index–the library of your website’s web pages. So, when a search engine users input the keyword/keyword-phrase into the search box, another program in the search engine serves up the pages in its index library according to the relevance of the search query–and, yes, with the most relevant ones listed on the first page of the SERPs.

You may have seen it, you know, when you search for the keyword phrase ’search engine optimization’: there are “…about 42,600,000 for search engine optimization” (this info is on the upper-right corner of Google SERP). What that means is that, there are 42,600,000 pages in the index that is relevant to the keyword phrase ’search engine optimization’.

Anyway, to answer the question, below are a couple of reasons why ‘legitimate’ search engine optimization is important:

Reason1. Legitimate Search Engine Optimization Produces ‘Long-Term’ FREE Organic Traffic

The main purpose of search engine optimization is to increase the traffic generated by a search engine optimized website. Search engines have become the building blocks of the foundation of the Internet and its users. A survey showed that 90% of all Internet users employ search engines to aid them in their Internet-related activities. Google, the dominant player in the search engine industry, generates 70% of all search-related Internet activity compared to other search engines.

Reason 2. Legitimate Search Engine Optimization ‘Continues’ to Answer People Queries with Quality Content

Search engines exist and continue to exist because they help people find what they’re looking for. Search engine and people are alike. They both like site’s with pack-full of content that have the potential to answer their question thoroughly–basically any website that contains substantive information about a certain topic.

The best content-quality search engine optimized websites ‘usually’ appear first in the search engines, because search engines want to provide relevant helpful content to their users/customers. The benefits are mutual for both search engines and a search engine optimized website. As search engines want to make their users happy with helpful content-filled sites, they will continue to serve up those content-filled websites in the 1st page of SERPs (to answer their users’ queries).

Reason 3. Legitimate Search Engine Optimization Helps Getting Target Audience/Visitors/Customers

The use of the search engine to be able to target one’s target audience is one of the most effective online marketing strategies. It is not like other online marketing techniques (such as email marketing) which can lead to a lot of leakages in terms of targeting the right audience.

Since search engines segment the market and connect the right people together, search engine optimization helps increase your exposure to targeted niche market.

Reason 4. Legitimate Search Engine Optimization is Cost-Effective and Cost-Efficient for Your Effort

One can do search engine optimization under the assumption that he knows what he is doing. Search engine optimization is a full-time job and has a very long learning curve. This is why most people would resort to out-sourcing the job to experts who are good at what they do. One should be cautious, however, in hiring a search engine optimization company or consultant. Factors such as pricing and service should carefully be assessed before signing a deal. If done properly, search engine optimization is a very cost effective way of getting more people to know about one’s products or to know about a certain issue or event that a website is disseminating.

*You can read more about this in my post on “Do-It-Yourself SEO Techniques vs. Third Party SEO Services.”

Anyway, to summary, legitimate search engine optimization is important for your websites, because it expands your reach to more targeted customers/search engine users. Also, ‘legitimate’ search engine optimization does not only generate traffic from the targeted audience, but it is also a cost-effective way of optimizing your website for ‘long-term’ success.

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With honed search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, any website can be listed in the top of the search engine results page (SERP).

This, of course, only happens when you know how to optimized site for the keyword/keyword phrase typed into the search box of Google, Yahoo, MSN, or other search engines.

Emerging on top of a search engine results page (first page) would unquestionably lead to more business for your company. That is why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a “must”.

For years, BIG companies have employed services from numerous Search Engine Marketing (SEM) establishments or individual SEO experts to deal with search engine optimization. The price tags for these SEO services are usually astronomical for small online business owners who wish to ‘join’ the search engine race.

The SEO services provided by these search marketing experts usually involved developing a more informative and user-friendly website and also included pay-per-click (PPC)–as an additional ‘optional’ cost .

When compared to a PPC campaign (e.g. Google Adwords campaign) done by these SEO services, Do-It-Yourself SEO isn’t so bad–PERIOD . To simply put, optimizing your website YOURSELF for organic searches (search engine searches) can yield positive results at a ridiculously low cost, compared to those SEO services.

If you would like to have a hands-on experience with search engine optimization and can’t afford a third-party SEO service, below are some helpful SEO techniques/tips you can learn to “do it yourself” to rank high on the search engine:

SEO Technique 1: Take some ‘lots’ of time developing your website’s content.

“Content is king”–hopefully, you have heard that before. If not, now you have =P.

Anyway, for most search engine optimized websites, content–high quality content–is the key.

When writing the content of your web pages, remember not only to SEO the right number of keyword density (1% – 4%) but also to keep your readers interests in mind. Insert vital keywords which relate to your company’s products and services only when it’s appropriate. Again, you readers interests should come first. Why? Because–if they get bored, due to that bombardment of repeated keywords and your company’s products/services, they will RUN; and, then, you will have no ‘potential’ or ‘long-term’ customer to sell to (in the future .

*Make your SEO content brief but–above all–INFORMATIVE. (Just like this sentence .

The reason is that most Internet users do not actually read a website’s content word-for-word. They just skim through the text and concentrate on the ‘parts’ and ‘data’ that they need or find interesting. Yup, a 600-word article may be too boring or too long for the “average” Internet user .

Anyway, in addition to keeping SEO content and keyword density in mind, also remember to keep your FACTS up-to-date. Why? Come on–don’t you like things updated? I know I do, because this helps bring the visitors back to your website over-and-over again for more and more ‘updated’ information, a.k.a. NEW information (to them).

*By the way, don’t forget to include a lot of FREE helpful links, articles and guides when appropriate. Don’t be too stingy to give out external links to relevant sources .

(See how important this SEO technique is? It’s the longest that I have covered–and it’s the #1 technique of all SEO techniques I’ll discuss…more below).

SEO Technique 2: Make the overall design of your website especially user-friendly.

Let’s face it: if users can’t ‘use’ your website/navigate to where they want, THEY WILL LEAVE.

In most cases of web design, the rule–”The simpler, the better”–applies: K-I-S-S KISS! (Keep-It-Simple-Stupid!)

To ’simply’ put, don’t design your website in an overly-complicated way that users will find it too “frightening” to browse for their ‘data’ and ‘needs’.

Also, try to adapt your website design to your target market. If your target audience is of young teenagers, make sure that the colors and designs are funky, youthful, attention-grabbing, and appealing to their tastes.

For a more mature audience, you ‘might’ want to use subdued colors and have a more elegant theme for your overall website’s design.

So basically, a website that’s usable, accessible, and alluringly engaging to the target market will stay ’sticky’ to the targeted users (they’ll come back to your website over-and-over again–to be ‘easily’ entertained .

This–a site’s design based on the USER’S usability, accessibility, and interactivity–is probably the queen of “Content is King.” *Note how I emphasize USERS: site design may be queen, content may be king, but USER is GOD–at least to your income anyway .

SEO Technique 3: Vary the keyword for each individual web page.

Think of every possible keywords or phrases that will apply to your products and services. Each user, however, is different and may not necessarily use the keyword that you expect them to type in the search box/bar. There are free SEO tools that can help you find the ‘correct’ keywords for search engine optimization. This I’ll cover more in-depth in the SEO Keyword Research category. For now let’s move on to SEO technique #4.

SEO Technique 4: Make sure that your hyper-links are visible, accessible and informatively KEYWORD-LOADED to specifically relevant pages on your website.

Providing users with hyper-links or HTML links which are useful and easy to find is yet another way to optimize your website (your visitors that is . There’s another SEO technique, keyword-loaded anchor text in hyper-links, which I’ll discuss in details in the SEO Links category. I don’t want to stretch this post to a 700 words essay .

Anyway, for now let’s move on to the last SEO technique.

SEO Technique 5: Learn how to LEAD traffic to the right place of your website that lead to your Most-Want-Response (MWR).

Seriously, seek experts’ advises on this field if you do not know how to lead traffic to the ‘target’ of your site. You should consider developing a plan and investing in necessary tools (aside from the free ones) to drive traffic your way.

But, of course, you have to have a way to measure your Return On Investment (ROI), if you’ve decided to make the necessary investment. These not-so-free SEO tools (e.g. WordTracker, Link Assistant, etc.) are must-haves if you want to have the TREMENDOUS edge over your competitions without having to pay ‘astronomical’ fees to the third party SEO services.

These SEO tools are similar to what major SEO services use to empower their SEO techniques. Please remember that they are paid-to-use tools for a reason. These reasons, plus in-depth SEO tools’ reviews, will be discussed in my posts in the SEO Tools category.

Anyway, that ends my rambling on “Do-It-Yourself SEO Techniques and Third Party SEO Services.” I hope it’s not too long or over 700 words .

• What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
• 9 SEO Tips to Out-Flank Your Opponent in the Search Engine War
• Spamming is Not a Good Black-Hat SEO Technique
• Why Yahoo New Robots-Nocontent Tag Will Have Little Use
• The Best WordPress Blog Title Structure