Wiki Definition:

“Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Typically, the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

Please note; all of this blog is strictly based off of experience and nothing more. Be aware that not one person truly knows how to get your website on “page 1″ every time. If someone tells you, “I guarantee that I can get you ranked number 1!” … run away. Just… run away! How this may sound like music to your ears, it is most likely going to get you banned.

There are many great SEO Companies out there that can possibly (and probably will) get you more traffic, quality leads, and a higher rank than before. I’ve seen it done many times and it is possible. Problem being, most of these companies WILL charge “an arm and a leg” to get this done. Sorry to say this, but crunch the numbers… $3000/month is not looking good for the ROI (Return on Investment). Here is a little secret that could possibly upset a lot of these companies…. YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF. You don’t need a voodoo master and you don’t truly need to be very tech savvy.

I will not share all of my knowledge here, today. What this blog post will do is give you a step in the right direction. You, as a business owner/web master, will need to come to your own conclusion(s) on which route to take.

1. Know that SEO takes time. Do not expect to try a SEO tactic and see results in a week. I have seen it happen, but if it does then feel lucky and go play the lottery.
2. It is almost impossible to HURT your website if you are already unhappy with your “page rank.” So don’t fear the HTML Code, dive right in. You’re smart; you’ll figure it out quickly.
3. Follow the rules & guidelines of search engine providers. Why? There is such thing as a black list. You do NOT want to be there. If you were unhappy before - just wait until you get placed on the black list.

Okay, so we have the ground rules down. You are sitting at your desk. Find a pen & paper! (Yes, a real ink pen! Don’t start opening your favorite word processor!)

Ask yourself a few key questions. What? Where? Who? Why?

• What do you offer your client(s)/customer(s)?
• Where do you want your clients to be located at?
• Who is your target audience?
• Why are they even going to your website in the first place?

Now that you have these questions answered… throw that paper away. Get a new piece. Do it again… this time: Be very specific in your answers. For example, don’t write “web design”… do you have any idea how many “web design” sites there are on the internet??? As of tonight, Google reports “Results 1 - 10 of about 320,000,000″ - stop dreaming and redo the paper. And I mean it… throw that paper away. That piece of paper will get you into trouble. Why you ask? Your first thoughts are almost entirely irrational & on the fly.

Alright! We have our questions answered - and to answer your question: No this isn’t the final step.

How do you implement these ideas & answers into your website?

Here is where everyone screeches to a halt. I promise, it isn’t as hard as you would think. Yes, it is basically a new language you get to learn (if you don’t know HTML basics). Is it hard? No, not after you understand the concepts behind it all- and it is all logic based!

Note: To make this blog a bit shorter, I’m not going to explain how to edit & create HTML, sorry. Use your favorite search engine, they work wonders!

Tags - What? Yes, use them.

In the HTML Tags there are descriptive tags that can be used on images and links. These are called attributes. The most popular & most overlooked tags are “alt” and “title.” Believe it or not, search engine spiders read & rank this information! What do you put in your title & alt tags? Simply, short keyword phrases. Do not (and I really mean Do NOT) put entire sentences full of keywords - it will get ignored and you’ve wasted your time. Why do people forget these tags? Probably they just bypass & think if they spam keywords at the bottom they are good to go. Well, I’ll tell you right now- if your website gets reported for keyword spam, they you will get black listed.

When you open your website source code, you’ll see tags at the very top. In between the tag “<head>” and “</head>” - this is called meta tags. This is where the search engines start reading your website. Nothing should ever be placed in these tags except meta data. You SHOULD see tags such as “<title>” and “<meta …”- some web masters say that these tags are dead & dying. Well, they are there. They must be used; obviously. I have noticed that popular engines like Google are in fact using these as secondary keywords & focus on content more. We’ll get to that soon. However - it can’t hurt so use them! If you don’t see these tags, please search away. Just search for “How do I setup meta tags on my website”

Headers & Content

This is very important. You may even need to redo some of your website to really focus on this area.

Headers:

Headers, in HTML, are written as <h#>Title of what ever here</h#>. The # can be a number from 1-6. Think of it as a title. The <h#> yells, “I’m important!” - the search engines listen. Your titles should be a clear introduction to what the page is in reference to. With these tags actually being of importance, why in the world wouldn’t you use them? Make sure you at least have a few throughout your website.

Content:

When I refer to content here, I mean your text. Your text is normally enclosed in a “<p>” tag. Creatively enough, this tag means “paragraph.” Your content is also very important. The keywords & target you use is of no importance unless it is mentioned multiple times & in different context. This is where you really need your “thinking cap” on. It will usually take a bit of time to be able to accomplish this correctly & efficiently… After all, search engines are not the only thing to view your website…. hopefully!

“Link Backs”

These are easy, simple, obvious, and they work! On your website source, you should see tags that state “<a href=…” These are links that should also have a title attribute on them as mentioned before! In your content that you just rewrote (or working on) find your keywords and put a link to them! Where do you want to link them to? You should link them to the relevant PAGE. Don’t put your website as a link, it is usually ignored. Find a page on your website that has that keyword & actually is relevant.

This information should get you started. I must extend my apologies as I have not been able to write here much as of late.

I also apologize if there is any confusion or rambling. It is 5am, 0 hours of sleep, and I am cursed with being an insomniac.

I wish you all the best in your SEO quest… and always remember.
The FREE way IS the BEST way.

Please note; all of this blog is strictly based off of experience and nothing more. Be aware that not one person truly knows how to get your website on “page 1″ every time. If someone tells you, “I guarantee that I can get you ranked number 1!” … run away. Just… run away! How this may sound like music to your ears, it is most likely going to get you banned.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 4:28 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.