13 Ethical Ways to Increase Your Site's Search Traffic

If you have a product you're really proud of, it should speak for itself. But when it comes down to it, you still need to get customers on your website in the first place -- especially if you're running an e-commerce operation.

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We asked a panel of 13 successful entrepreneurs to share their best advice for generating high-quality, organic search traffic to their business websites. Here's what they had to say:

1. Focus on the Long Tail

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- Lawrence Watkins, Great Black Speakers

2. Stick Around

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- Alexandra Levit, Inspiration at Work

3. Optimize Your Articles

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- Nathalie Lussier, The Website Checkup Tool

4. Don't Forget About (Ethical) Link Building

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- Christopher Kelly, Convene

5. Use Google's Keyword Tool

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- Patrick Curtis, WallStreetOasis.com

6. Provide Amazing Value to Your Readers

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- Liam Martin, Staff.com

7. Don't Try to Outsmart Google

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- Sarah Schupp, UniversityParent

8. Think of SEO as an Opportunity to Create Value

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- Danny Wong, Blank Label

9. Decrease Bounce Rate

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- Adam Lieb, Duxter

10. Produce Quality Content

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- John Hall, Influence & Co.

11. Create a Company Blog to Increase SEO Traffic

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- Jay Wu, A Forever Recovery

12. Leverage Industry Experts

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- Chuck Cohn, Varsity Tutors

13. Create a Community

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- Mitch Gordon, Go Overseas