http://marketingsource.com/articles/ Articles at marketingsource.com Articles Library en-us http://marketingsource.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/a-flying-start-8-seo-tips.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/search-engine-optimization/a-flying-start-8-seo-tips.html Tue, 09 Nov 2010 07:31:05 -0600
1. Get Google Analytics and Google's Webmaster Tools running with your site, this will provide you with loads of useful data while allowing you to control some aspects of how Google handles your site. Through Webmaster Tools you will also receive notices if there have been issues with your web site. Bing and Yahoo also offer some similar services you can use.

2. Do thorough keyword research using at least Google's External Keyword Tool, when using this be sure to set the region you want figures for, and look at the Exact figures, not the Broad ones shown by default.

3. Use Google's Local Business Center to get your business shown in local search results.

4. Write quality content that will attract links while ensuring your keywords are present, no spamming!

5. Write sensible page titles that reflect the content of the page, again use your keywords here aswell as your brand name. For example;


6. With the arrival of Google's new algorithm in early 2010 it is being said the META Description tag is being given weight agaiin. This makes me wonder about other one page factors also. Regardless, I have always recommended using and optimizing this tag for snippet control and improving click through rates.

7. It's been long said the META Keywords tag offers no ranking advantage, but with Google's new algorithm, who knows with any real certainty. I have always used them as one way to keep track of what keywords are being optimized on what page.

8. Build quality links to your site from other websites relevant to your own. Using topic related forums and blogs is one good way to do this, be sure to participate and contribute instead of just spamming for links.

Finding websites within your own industry with Guestbooks is another way to pick up some handy links aswell. When building links you want to have keywords in the link text (anchor text) where possible, just don't use the same link text over and over, change it up.

For example;

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A qualified customer, or lead, is someone who has typed in a keyword that is a 100% match to what service(s) or product(s) you are offering. When a qualified lead lands on your website the chances of making a sale are much, much higher. As an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Specialist of over 5 years, this is where many people and clients alike go wrong in their decision making.

Choosing the wrong keywords will leave you wondering why you aren’t seeing the same number of sales that the keyword tool(s) lead you to believe there would be. There are varying reasons that will explain this, even when choosing the right keywords can’t assure you there will be so many sales!

In the first instance, the data you get from any keyword tool, even Google’s, is not 100% accurate. In the case of Google, they never publish anything that makes it easier for SEO Consultants to assist their clients in achieving better rankings, if they do, they won’t show the whole picture so to speak.

As for other tools, their stats are based on databases that only represent a smaller percentage of online users. Yahoo and MSN receive about 25% of search activity performed online while Google get around 70%, the other 5% approx, is all other search engines collectively like Alexa for example.

Secondly, a certain percentage of those numbers are made up of you, and your competitors checking their rankings on a frequent basis. So, with this in mind, I will give you some examples for a real estate who only services a certain area. The numbers used have come from Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool .

Louise has been in business for just over a year and wants to attract more customers via her website. I have presented Louise a long list of keywords and immediately she gets really excited, she’s amazed at the numbers for the search term ‘Real Estate’.

Louise: “Wow, 2.7 million people a month search for ‘Real Estate’, I can’t imagine that many people visiting my website.”

SEO Consultant: “That is a lot Louise, but let me explain, that’s every keyword combined that has the words real and estate in them. It’s called a ‘broad search term’ and could be something like ‘Real Estate Agents Sydney’, you’re in Melbourne. There are also exact search terms shown in this list and as you can see, over 200,000 people a month in Australia actually type ‘Real Estate’ alone, but even so, how many of them are actually within your service area or looking for something you don’t offer?”

Louise: “Even so, I’d like to rank for that keyword and get as many as I can!”

SEO Consultant: “I can understand that, but if you target more specific search terms, you will most likely end up with more sales than chasing keywords with larger numbers. We can of course aim at those bigger terms, but the more competitive a search term is, the harder it is to obtain top rankings for various reasons.”

“The more competitive it is, the more people there are trying to rank for that exact keyword making it much more likely the top 10 – 30 websites listed are using SEO to better their rankings. We can of course target these top keywords as part of long term goals but in the short term, the most effective way to achieve fast results is to target less searched keywords (long tail keywords). This will ensure your website is able to turn more visitors in to paying customers.”

As an example, I worked for a company as their full time SEO Specialist, when I started they were getting around 9,000 visitors a month from approximately 1,500 keywords. After doing some SEO targeted at long tail keywords, they were getting more than 19,000 visitors a month from around 4,500 keywords.

Focusing on these long tail keywords meant two things;

1. Better rankings on many long tail keywords were achieved in a short time.
2. A dramatic increase in visitors was also achieved in a short amount of time.

As a result of this approach a dramatic increase in leads and sales was seen over the first 2 – 3 month period almost instantly turning a $20 million a year company in to a $40 million a year company.

Unfortunately a lot of people get bad information or don’t understand everything that is involved in running a successful SEO Campaign. It’s not just on and off page, its keyword selection, ensuring your website meets the needs of your potential customers and so on.

This is why I always recommend you at the very least get some reliable advice before you even purchase web hosting, a domain name or get your website developed. You can save a lot of money and lost sales buy getting it all done right well before your website is ready to go online!

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