About a month ago, I remember reading someone's opinion that Hillary Clinton was a sure bet for the next Presidency. Right now she's slipping behind in the polls. I've seen and read in a few different places that she's becoming emotional, even tearful, and vowing to struggle on.

There's a theory that nothing the Clintons do is unplanned. Everything is supposedly mapped out in incredible detail. If you take Mrs. Clinton's emotion at face value, it seems very normal. She wants so badly to win that even the thought of not being able to take America in a new direction is enough to bring tears to her eyes. But maybe there's more to this.

Yesterday I saw a clip on a news program about what Hillary said when confronted with a statement along the lines of, "What do you think about voters siding with this other guy?" Her response was, "That hurts my feelings." It was at that moment that I realized she was probably advised to play up her differences as a woman, when compared to a man. The old stereotypes say men are stoic, and women are emotional. So Hillary was probably coached into making it as obvious as possible that she's a leader of a different caliber, and since most people are looking for change, that's a big selling point.

But here's where things get interesting. Hillary has fallen behind (or it seems that way, or it is being made to seem that way), so she gets emotional. That garners her more attention, and the more attention you've got, the more likely you are to gain public favor. If you're unknown, nobody cares. If people are aware of you, they'll make up their minds one way or another. So to win an election, it's best to get as much attention as possible.

I once read about a memory test done with average folks who sat down and looked at some names of people they'd never heard of. Then they took a break of an hour or two. After the break, they were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding celebrities. The form had a bunch of names, and boxes that were to be checked off if a name belonged to a famous person. Most people ended up checking off names that weren't famous at all, but did in fact appear on the original list of random names. The conclusion was that the people looked at the questionnaire, recognized a name, assumed they knew it for a reason, and marked it as famous. This could work in politics, as well as with marketing your blog.

They say no press is bad press. A blog was once involved in a lawsuit. The "negative" press sent major traffic to the site, and it ended up earning record revenue. My theory for how this applies to politics is this: When you're falling behind, you need to get back in the public eye through any means necessary. The more people who are aware of you and what you're about, the more votes you'll get. That's a potential reason for why Hillary is hitting the media with a display of emotion. She wants more attention, which could lead to a reversal in her recent slippage trend.

How does this help us bloggers? The idea is pretty simple. Get as much attention you can, for reasons that appear on the surface to be entirely natural. If you come across as wanting attention, or obviously trying to pull some media stunt, it won't work. Hillary's getting attention because her emotional behavior is interesting, but not unbelievable. To put your blog on the map, you've got to be just like a Presidential candidate, and get enough attention and publicity to win over your fair share of voters and visitors.

Google provides everyone a great service with their website. You just go there, type in what you're looking for, and Google presents you with the results it thinks are most relevant. It is good for Google to strive for relevancy. If Google were to cheat, and put its own pages on top, when most searchers didn't want to see them, Google would make those people unhappy with its results. They'd leave, Google's traffic would go down, and Google would make less money from advertisers. Advertisers pay to be seen, and if Google isn't getting as many viewers as usual, advertisers will look elsewhere. So it is in Google's best interest to do a good job of cataloging every meaningful web page in existence.

Even if Google hired thousands of people to do research manually, individually going through the web finding and cataloging new sites, it still wouldn't be able to keep up. Many new web pages are being created every day. Plus, it is less costly to put machines to work doing the cataloging. And machines are faster. So what does this mean for us?

Since Google uses machines to index our sites, we can get ahead. We do this by learning the rules the machines follow. The Google Bot operates like any other program, using the formula that was programmed into it. Since Google hasn't yet revealed itself to be self-aware, we can assume that there is only a key set of guidelines we must follow (rather than the selective judgment of a person). It started out that Google's rules weren't immediately apparent. Some even considered them secret. Today, many of the basic guidelines are public knowledge.

Of course, there are most definitely other hidden guidelines that are not widely known. And since Google is constantly evolving, there will likely be new guidelines to follow in the future. However, the basic rules for getting your page indexed by Google are pretty simple.

The benefit of following these rules is that your page and site will rank higher (for search terms that you choose) than other pages and sites that don't follow the rules. You can use this to your advantage. If you do some keyword research, you can come up with search terms that are very popular. Then you follow Google's rules and optimize your site for them. Google will index your page, and it will appear somewhere in the search results for those terms. The best possible outcome would be for your page to come up as #1 on the front page of Google. Then when a surfer visits Google and uses the search terms that you optimized your site for, he or she will be immediately presented with a link to your site, up front and on top. That is a good place to be, because your site will then get a good amount of traffic. Getting traffic is half the battle when it comes to making money online.

So once you figure out what search terms you want to optimize a page for, how do you go about it? Let's say your top chosen term is "keywords and search terms". This is how to use those words in your page to get a boost through Google:

Use your keywords in header tags:

<h1>Keywords And Search Terms</h1>
<h2>Keywords And Search Terms</h2>
<h3>Keywords And Search Terms</h3>

Use the keywords in the URL of your page:

http://www.your-site.com/keywords-and-search-terms.html

*Many people believe that keywords-and-search-terms.html is better than keywords_and_search_terms.html as well as keywordsandsearchterms.html

Use the keywords in the file name of an image on your site:

<img src="http://www.your-site.com/images/keywords-and-search-terms.jpg">

Use the keywords in the alt tag of an image on your site:

<img src="http://www.your-site.com/images/keywords-and-search-terms.jpg" alt="Keywords And Search Terms">

Use the keywords in your content, and let Search Engines know they are special with bold, italic, and underline tags:

Blah blah blah blah blah blah <b>keywords and search terms</b> blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah <i>keywords and search terms</i> blah blah. Blah blah blah blah <u>keywords and search terms</u> blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Link to your page using the keywords in your anchor text:

<a href="http://www.your-site.com/keywords-and-search-terms.html">keywords and search terms</a>

*This can be done from within the page itself, from other pages on your site, and in links coming from other sites.

Link to your page using the keywords in the link's title tag:

<a href="http://www.your-site.com/keywords-and-search-terms.html" title="Keywords And Search Terms">keywords and search terms</a>

*This can be done from within the page itself, from other pages on your site, and in links coming from other sites.

The main thing to remember is that Google sees all the special things you do with words and phrases, so the more times you treat certain phrases (your keywords) specially (using them with bold, italic, underline, title, alt, and header tags, and in URLs and file names), the better you will rank for those terms.

A warning: If you use these techniques too intensely, Google could penalize your page or site as containing spam. It is best to use each of these tricks where they fit, and where they add to the user experience. Making a page look attractive while using a handful of these SEO tricks will usually prevent you from going overboard and into spam-like territory.

To track how your site ranks for certain keywords and search terms, you might try some free software called Free Monitor For Google.

Lots of times, people will overlook what could be considered the most important key to building up a site's traffic — content. I know that in the past, I've been curious about simple tweaks and tricks that will get more visitors to my site without me having to worry about what they'll find when they get here. But really, when it comes to traffic, content is king.

You hear that idea so many places that it might get old. "Yeah yeah, content is king, whatever, give me the secrets! The tricks the pros use!" In all honesty, I have to say I think "content" really does belong on the list for tricks pros use. Maybe even at #1.

How will great content bring more people to your site? Let's say your site is a notch above unknown. You've got a steady trickle of visitors. Not a whole heck of a lot, but a consistent number, and it's above 0. Imagine if you suddenly put up some amazing content. What would happen? The few people that see your site would say, "Wow! This is great stuff! I've got to remember this site…" Maybe they bookmark you. Maybe they mention your content to a friend or coworker. Maybe they even blog about you, and post a link so more people (and the search engines) can find your site. All these great things will happen because of great content. It's the Great Content Effect.

Now let's say that after a while, your site hasn't changed. There's that one piece of great content, which probably ends up getting its own trickle of traffic from search engines. And that's on top of the original traffic stream, so you're site is now getting more visitors than before. But your original visitors have found nothing new, and see no reason to keep coming back.

So you put up another piece of really great content. The Great Content Effect returns. A visitor says, "Hey, all right, this is perfect! I can't wait to see what they come up with next!" Others tell their friends about your site, and your traffic grows a little more.

Each time you put out great content, you increase the overall value of your site. The more valuable resources there are, the more people will come. Great content = great value = great traffic.

The beauty of using content to build traffic is that it's largely passive on your part! You regularly take the time to write or create something great, something useful and attractive, and then post it on your site. Bam! Done. Now your visitors will do all the heavy lifting, telling others about your site, bookmarking you, and keeping you in mind in the future. You can focus on what matters most, providing excellent content, and the traffic will essentially build itself.

What if rather than great content, you put up something lousy instead? Maybe a Made For AdSense template with old information. A visitor shows up, and if they are decently net savvy, they can tell your site holds less value than they expected. Suddenly your site has made a bad impression, and the visitor remembers not to come back. That can happen again and again. Pretty soon, most of your remaining visitors are all unfamiliar strangers who immediately turn away when they see you don't have too much to offer. There's no repeat traffic, which is a major component to a site's success. And if anyone happens to mention your site, the description won't likely be very positive. The lesson here is that a website is only as good as its content.

The benefits of consistently producing great content are:

The Great Content Effect is magnified depending on how much traffic you've already got. The more traffic you start with, the better the results will be. This is because larger groups of visitors seeing your great content for the first time can spread the word more quickly and powerfully than smaller groups. So you can see how this could snowball:

Traffic Level (X) + Great Content = Traffic Level (X+)
Traffic Level (X+) + Great Content = Traffic Level (X++)
Traffic Level (X++) + Great Content = Traffic Level (X+++)
Traffic Level (X+++) + Great Content = Traffic Level (X++++)
Traffic Level (X++++) + Great Content = Traffic Level (X+++++)
…Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!

One of the keys to succeeding in business is to provide great value for others. The more valuable you make your site with great content, the more traffic it will receive. And when it comes to making money online, getting traffic is half the battle.

The search terms aren't amazing, but one of them brings up 8,520,000 results, and I'm on the front page, so I'm happy!

I found out when I checked Google Analytics today to see how Misinterpreted dot Org was doing. I thought, "I wonder what kinds of searches are bringing most people here?"

Among the top terms were:

aquafrequencies
watch me move with my juke
watch me juke
watch me move
watch me move like my juke
watch my juke
peter petrelli scrubs
has vista failed

All the juke stuff relates to a post I made a while back called, A Commercial I Hate: "Watch Me Move, Got My Juke!" Now that I think about it, my quote of the lyrics was wrong! More on that later…

So I thought I'd see what a search term like "watch me move" would bring up in the results. I thought maybe I'm somewhere on some random page.

Lo and behold, I'm on page one:

Watch Me Move

- #5 out of 8,520,000

Lets check all the variants.

Watch Me Juke

- #2 out of 656,000

Watch My Juke

- #3 out of 700,000

Watch Me Move With My Juke

- #1 out of 34,100

Watch Me Move Like My Juke

- #9 out of 20,000

Watch Me Like With My Juke

- #2 out of 57,300 (I had typed in the wrong query, but being #2 is awesome [unless you're Bono])

Watch Me Move Got My Juke

- #1 out of 193,000

I read this comment on YouTube under the Verizon Juke video commercial: "That is called "Juking" my friend…very hard, but fun to do…it's been big for over 30 years and in the Midwest, but its finaly made its way around…."

I guess to Juke is to dance? And listening to the song again, it sounds like, "Watch me move, like my Juke?" Like, "Watch me dance, like my moves?" So in that case, the title to my post is completely wrong! But I'm not changing it. Being on the front page of Google for those search terms is too much motivation to leave it as is.

Among the other search terms that were bringing me traffic were aquafrequencies, peter petrelli scrubs, and has vista failed. The Vista one didn't bring me up anywhere near #1, so I'll just cover the other two.

Aquafrequencies relates to another post I wrote called "The Power Of Water And Positive Thought" about the Aquafrequencies cure-all software system. How do I rank for that search term?

Aquafrequencies

- #6 and #7 out of 188

It's interesting that I'm listed on the front page, just a few results below the actual site for the program. But I guess since there are only 188 results for the term, that doesn't really mean as much as it might otherwise.

What about Peter Petrelli? I had written a post about his name being mentioned on Scrubs, When Worlds Collide: Peter Petrelli and Scrubs. And now:

Peter Petrelli Scrubs

- #1 out of 51,500

I had heard someone say on Scrubs that her fear of death forced her to ask Peter Petrelli to the sock hop in the 8th grade. Astounded, I searched and searched before finding that others on the net had noticed the same thing. At one point I mistakenly thought that there was only 1 other person who knew. Later I found out that others were also aware of the triviality (well, I thought it was cool). But now being #1 for the search term I had originally used — all I can say is wow.

So now I bet you're wondering, how did I pull off getting on the front page of Google for 9 different searches? Here's my 3 Point Solution to this conundrum:

Point 1: I wrote 3 separate posts, each of which used the key words in their titles.
Point 2: WordPress automatically added header tags and created SEO-friendly URLs.
Point 3: The ideas for each search are either rare or relatively new.

As I said, Peter Petrelli mentioned on Scrubs seemed at first to be rarely noticed, and therefore not too often mentioned online. Aquafrequencies only has 188 results because the program isn't that well-known. And the Verizon Juke commercial is fairly new.

I believe I was able to rank highly for all these terms because there isn't a major amount of competition (just yet). Plus, the terms don't send me a huge amount of traffic. If they did, you can bet there'd be other sites more proactive about ranking for them.

But still… I'm made the front page of Google, and not just for some Googlewhack!

Not always, but sometimes. Especially when the story is already popular, and you're trying to pull off a blogger's "Dumb and Dumberer."

This idea recently became clear to me. A couple of weeks ago I began noticing headlines on the front page of the paper that seemed oddly familiar. A closer look revealed that the publication was reporting on stories I had already read about online, the day before.

Of course, perspective gained from a passage of time is helpful for interpreting events. But because I had already read about those stories previously, the paper couldn't hold my interest.

For different reasons, bloggers can also fall into the trap of reporting old news. It's deceptively easy, because technically the news isn't old at all. But there's a lag between the time the story breaks, and the time someone reads about it on the average blog.

Sometimes it can seem like a good idea to repeat what the big names are saying. After all, they're successful because they make good choices, and their choice of what to blog about must be brilliant right? So you post your take on things. But if you don't have a unique perspective, and you can't offer much more than what's already been said, you can sabotage your efforts to appeal to readers.

Say a surfer reads the story you read on the big name blog. Later he visits your blog. Same story! Boring. Exit, link right.

Certainly, if you're the first with a brand new update on a matter that has already been covered, then by all means get Dugg! But most of the time doling out a rehash of the same old ideas isn't the most compelling way to post.

So the lesson here is to be as unique as possible, in subject, in perspective, and in timing.

I know, everybody who's anybody has already heard of BlogRush. Well, I finally got around to getting this site in on the action, so I figured I might as well give a quick rundown of the service.

If you've got a decent blog, it might be a good idea to sign up for BlogRush. They provide a free, simple widget that earns you traffic. It doesn't interfere with AdSense, and every time someone loads a page from your blog, you earn 1 BlogRush credit. Why? Because that page load included a load of the widget, which itself showed 5 links to other related blogs.

Each time the widget is loaded, you earn another credit. And all those credits you continue to accumulate will be used to get your latest blog posts shown as links on other people's BlogRush widgets. One credit earned equals one showing of a link to your post.

The really interesting part comes when you can manage to refer a good-sized group of people. BlogRush keeps track of everybody you refer, and everybody they refer, on and on for 10 generations. Every time anyone in your referral network earns a credit, you will earn one too, or a fraction of one if they are a certain number of generations away. John Chow at one point had accumulated 10 million credits! Of course, results like that demand incredible traffic.

What I like about the widget is it's easy to add, it's low maintenance, and it's designed to be clicked by anyone, including the blog owner. Free, functional, fantastic.

For those of you who've been planning to sign up (or who just decided to), I'd be grateful if you'd do so through my referral link.

The key to a successful web site, many would say, is traffic. One important and often overlooked way to attracting visitors is to showcase remarkable ideas.

Today I read about Seth Godin's 2003 book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. At the purple cow area of his site, he allows people to read a couple chapters for free. The first chapter details how he went about marketing the book. Early on, his strategy heavily relied on getting the people interested in the book to share their interest with others. And he wanted to be remarkable. So he sold 12-packs of his book and shipped them in milk cartons.

There was a big risk in that method, as you'd think not many people would be willing to pay $60 to spread an idea. But the gamble worked, and the reward was huge. The Purple Cow took off.

That got me thinking about how it can be easy to forget the need to be remarkable. In fact, I think it's ingrained in many of us not to be remarkable! In school, you're taught to run with the pack, to fit in at all costs. But to succeed in business, you must be unique. You must be special. It's very interesting that traditional conformity must often be unlearned in order to make a name in business.

The idea of a purple cow got me thinking about the need to differentiate. The internet is saturated with copycats, both intentional and accidental. In order to get the amount of visitors that can make a site successful, that site must be worth visiting. It must be remarkable.