The 8 Things You Must Do To Optimize Your Site For Search
Engines - missed by over 98.4% of online businesses
Search engines are better at spidering than you. Of course, you
need a professional looking site, easy to navigate, appropriate
content and size. Many webmasters and sites are great at displaying
graphics (flash) and visually appealing sections on their sites.
However, the search engines really don't care much about that. If
you can give the spiders what they want, they not only will eat it
up fast, but you will provide content-rich, relevant data to their
index (database). As time, content, size and relevancy increase, you
will rise up in the search engine results pages. Properly applied
search engine optimization techniques and online marketing
principles will help you. (SEO/SEM)
The 3 most important search engines to optimize for are Google,
Yahoo, and MSN. (Ed Note: Google owns over 50% of the market today,
and is growing fast every day. This includes their exposure via
partners like Ask, Earthlink, DogPile, etc). For you to get elevated
and relevant rankings you must get into the search engine indexes,
and we recommend you start with Google. You should get spidered by
Google in less than 3 weeks if applied correctly, but a long term
approach to SEO work is needed. You can expect to see your listing
within 2-4 months for some rankings, and as much time as 2 years for
certain keywords/phrases!
I invite you to take a look at the starter list below. These are
steps you can start today - and it is fairly easy and impactful.
NUMBER 1: Learn the SEO concepts.
SEO tries to ensure that your web pages appear at the top of the
search engines for target keyword requests. It increases brand
awareness, qualified traffic and revenue. Fact: Only 1/2 of the
people visiting look at the sponsored (paid) ads (PPC) and only 20%
of those actually click. However, 4 out of 5 total clicks - apply
their mouse on natural search results. Therefore SEO done right can
really elevate your business visibility and revenue. Additionally,
the top 5 sites returned from any search are where the action is.
Your goal? You should be in the top 10 (Search Engines Results Pages
(SERPS)) for your selected keywords.
NUMBER 2: Research the competition.
I am sure you do this no matter what business you are in - whether
online or not (brick and mortar). If not, this is one of the big
steps missed by online businesses. There are techniques on how to do
this effectively, quickly and with high quality results. Our August
article on www.microsaw.com ("How to blow the competition out of the
search game") outlines how to do this.
NUMBER 3: Linking Strategies and Relevancy.
One of the most important things you can do is to build out your
relevant linking neighborhoods. There are a number of great tools
you can use to automate this, but we have found that via email and
the phone (we are amazed by how many do not use the phone) -- you
will establish a closer relationship with your virtual partners, and
even though you may only spend an hour a day building link partners,
it is well spent. Typically, only 1-2 will exchange links with you
out of 8 companies called. However, let us say you get one quality
link per day through the year. That is over 300 quality links that
will help your relevancy, build your business and get your PR-level
moved (Page Rank).
NUMBER 4: Proper HTML and Site Building.
There are many articles written on this topic. If you are not
HTML-savvy, it can be a challenge. However, it is not hard to learn,
and many tools are available. Just search for free website design
tools. Other tools (try webconfs.com) can analyze your content, HTML
syntax and appropriate application of tags like H1, META tags, BODY
content and more. You must also make notes of server-side issues,
including IP numbers that may have belonged to (and still do) block
listed ranges.
NUMBER 5: Meet The Search Engines.
Make sure you read the webmasters guidelines on all the search
engines, especially Google, Yahoo and MSN. They actually are very
helpful, and they want you to do well, contrary to what you believe
or have heard. Also, keep in mind, there are robotic search engines,
algorithmic based search engines and AI-type search engines -
different styles of writing. Additionally, you must include listings
in the directories, like DMOZ (free, but takes weeks to get listed),
Yahoo (free, months - or paid, immediate). Lastly, you must study
and learn the PPC (pay-per-click) strategies, learn how to write
ads, copy writing for (cash) landing pages, and have a solid
back-end sales process. If you have never used the AdSense programs,
you may be missing out on *significant* income, but many do it
incorrectly. We have seen adsense programs go from $3.00/day to over
$19,000/month!
NUMBER 6: Use a proven methodology.
None of the SEO "white hat" (opposite to "black hat" - unethical)
strategies are rocket-scientists-qualified only. The key areas to
keep working on are: a) keyword research, b) competitive analysis,
c) analyze your own site(s), d) submit your site(s), e) monitor
rankings, f) Reporting, g) link development and h) dynamic site
mapping. This approach works, and used by many of the professional
SEO companies in the industry.
NUMBER 7: Learn how to use the SEO tools.
Metaphor: For many home-owners, the worst thing that can happen when
approaching any project, large or small - is not having your tool
belt with you. Even worse, if there are tools missing from your belt
after spending 5 minutes retrieving the ladder, lining it up just
right, scaling it just to get to the top of the roof -- you not only
feel aggravated, but stupid.
Being affiliated with some of the guru-type tools & specialists in
the industry is nice, but most people are not. Therefore, free tools
are a good place to start. These will help you get to work
immediately, and you don not have to come down off the roof to get
them.
NUMBER 8: Relevancy, Relevancy, Relevancy? Why be "search
relevant"?
The objective here is to make the search engines "see". You must
always ensure that you insert unique relevant content such that the
page becomes more worthy of a high ranking in the search engines.
You must also make sure you adhere to Style Guide Requirements. The
ultimate objective is not to make an inferior page appear superior,
but to actually make it superior. Yes, you must be relevant - for
any site - be it a commerce/shopping type site, to an information
page about Da Vincis life (and, you have something to sell for your
bottom line is good). Do not try any tricks, especially not on the
search engines. You will regret it. There are too many sad stories
of revenues and business lost from "black hat" strategies. They
appear to work for a little while, and suddenly you are gone from
the listings. Be relevant and ethical. It may take a little longer,
but you will win out in the end.
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Jon Rognerud is a recognized authority on the subject of SEO, and
has spent over 10 years developing websites and marketing solutions
at companies like Overture and Yahoo. His Web 2.0 site,
http://www.microsaw.com,
provides a wealth of informative articles, resources and
complimentary email courses on everything you will ever need to know
about SEO and Search Marketing. He lives with his family in Los
Angeles, CA.
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More Search Engine Information:
Highly Recommended!
Check
Aaron Wall's SEO Book. Aaron's book
doesn't leave any stones unturned. He covers
everything you need to know about getting traffic to
your website and legitimately ranking well with the
search engines. His book covers all the nitty
gritty details in an easy-to-understand way.
