There are literally thousands of online companies brashly promising to generate a ton of traffic for your website. Most of them use those exact words to lure in anyone desperate to improve website performance.

Usually, the solution is expensive, and will be at best a flash in the pan, bringing a temporary surge in web stats. At worst those companies can get you banned immediately from one or more search engines, leaving you with the task of building your web presence all over again from scratch.

There is No Instant Solution
The real secret to achieving a satisfying level of web traffic will take a little time, and not a little effort. But it will be worth it because your traffic, and therefore your web presence, will be stable and reliable. Even disturbances in the online community resulting form a Google shakedown shouldnt affect you. I actually gained a little in my web ranking after Googles Jagger update in October 2005!

Youre probably wondering by now what the heck Im talking about, so Ill get right down to it.

Im talking about Search Engine Optimization of course. Increasingly referred to as SEO, true SEO is by definition organic, and thats how many consultants refer to it.

Whats organic? Good question.

If you have employed any gimmicks or fly-by-night techniques to get your site listed with the search engines then you are not organic.

Organic listing comes about with time and effort, doing the following things:

Carefully select keywords: these will be words or phrases that a searcher would use if he were searching for your site. The better your choices, the more traffic youll get.
Simple web design is best. It loads faster and doesnt distract the surfer from the business of gathering data and taking action. At the very least, stay away from Flash movies and excessive Java scripts.
Pick navigation that doesnt foil the search engine spiders when they come crawling around.
Come up with some quality content that is interesting, gets your message across, and also lets the search engines know youre there.

Now lets take a look at each of these in turn.

Selecting Keywords
How should you select keywords? Some SEO copywriters and experts make it all seem so complicated. It really isnt. You need a free tool for checking on the popularity of the keywords you choose. I love Overture: http://inventory.overture.com/

Also, take a look at the first five or six sites that come up in a search for your products or services. They can usually provide valuable pointers to keywords that you might use. Also, youll get a good idea of the standards youll need to exceed to surpass those pages.

Minimize Page Loading Time
Keep your web graphics as small as possible. Try and overcome the urge to be flashy: your words are the most important thing on your website, along with a good dash of white space. Too much detail will only distract your visitors anyway. The faster your loading time, the more visitors will stay to read what you have to say.

Navigation
Never use graphics for navigation. The search engines cannot read the words, so you are wasting a valuable opportunity for SEO. Worse than that, the search engines cannot navigate through to your other pages.

Create Catchy Content
It may take some time, or a little investment to get the content you need. If you know youre not up to the task, then bite the bullet and contact an experienced SEO copywriter. You will consider the cost a highly profitable investment once you begin to see your website climbing the search engines, and the traffic begins to come pouring in.

Whatever style you choose to employ, some rules remain the same. Your sentences should be short, clear and to the point. The words should be skillfully woven around the keywords so that the copy flows, and does not sound stilted.

Remember to add keywords to your page title and links to other pages. This will also help your ranking.

This is basically it, in a nutshell. Its not rocket science by any means, but you could refer to it as rocket fuel for your website!