Re: Search Engine Optimization in 5 Easy Steps</h1> <article> <h1>Re: Search Engine Optimization in 5 Easy Steps</h1> <p>David Lee Thompson — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:52:58 GMT</p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;color:black;font-family:Tahoma;">Back to basics, in a digital world! Finally, common sense! "5 Easy Steps" should be your "K.I.S.S. principal of optimization" (keep it simple stupid). This is applicable within any site where your goal is to guide prospective clients to <span style="text-decoration:underline;">your</span> unique brand of merchandise over that of thousands of other "same-stuff" sites! That said, make sure your site will load quickly, if not, your prospective buyer will move on in about 20 seconds! All that "fancy-dancer" flash and dazzel front-end, strictly "window-dressing", sell the product, not the movie!</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;color:black;font-family:Tahoma;">David</span></p> <p> </p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Re: Search Engine Optimization in 5 Easy Steps</h1> <p>michael laubach — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 08:04:25 GMT</p> <p>this article was very informative and enlightening!</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Search Engine Optimization in 5 Easy Steps</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:57:50 GMT</p> <p><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">In order to tackle Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you need to understand several important Online Marketing (OLM) concepts: keywords, search engine rankings, search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Search engines use “spiders” to crawl the Web in search of content, ranking and indexing sites as they go. <a href="http://www.mysolutionspot.com/online-marketing-basics/what-are-keywords-1042/1108">Keywords</a> are those words, terms, and phrases that consumers enter in the search bar each time they conduct a Web search. The search engine rankings, which result from the crawling spiders, are featured on the results pages for each keyword search.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Search Engine Optimization is an effort that involves trying to improve, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;">optimize</i>, a site so that it can achieve higher rankings on results pages. Search Engine Optimization efforts are called organic or natural because they involve making basic changes to your site’s content and code. Search Engine Marketing on the other hand, involves paid advertising efforts that will help drive traffic to your site.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"> </span>Let’s explore the organic, or natural, efforts of Search Engine Optimization.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">When launching a Search Engine Optimization strategy, you should take these five important steps:</span></p> <p style="margin:5pt 0in 0pt 0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;text-align:justify;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore;">1)<span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Create a list of keywords</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">. In creating a list of keywords, you want a blend of common terms as well as ones that are more unique and specific to your products and services. Think of yourself as a competitor when you consider your keyword list. In other words, thousands of Web sites will be selling “digital cameras,” so if you choose that as one of your keywords, your chances of bumping to the top of the search results page will be slim. There’s simply too much competition. But perhaps you can compete in the rankings with more specific keywords related to your top selling cameras, such as (7x) zoom lens, and 28 MP/cm² pixel density.</span></p> <p style="margin:5pt 0in 0pt 0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;text-align:justify;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore;">2)<span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Optimize your site with keywords</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">. With your list of keywords, turn to your site and optimize its pages. That means you should weave keywords into your title and description blurbs, as well as the meta tags within your source code. For your title tags, you can use single words or phrases, or a combination of the two, depending on the personality of your site. You do not want to reuse the same title tag over and over; be sure each page is unique. In terms of the description blurb (which displays on the search results page), having keywords woven throughout won’t improve your placement in the rankings. However, the description tag is one of the key elements that entice people to click on and jump to your site. </span></p> <p style="margin:5pt 0in 0pt 0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;text-align:justify;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore;">3)<span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Construct your internal links and navigation</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">. Internal links (links that jump people from page to page within your site) and your site’s navigation are how people get around on your site. The key is to use “spiderable” navigation. That means, your navigation should be text-based (not a graphic button), so that search engine spiders can read that text as a link. In addition, that navigational text should be made up of keywords. This is true for links that appear on any page as well. So, don’t just instruct users to “Click here.” Instead, guide them with a keyword description, “Read my article on high powered zoom lenses.” These types of links and navigational prompts will help improve your search rankings.</span></p> <p style="margin:5pt 0in 0pt 0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;text-align:justify;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore;">4)<span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Make your content unique</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">. Spiders ignore duplicate content. For that reason alone, content on your site needs to be unique. It cannot be something you’ve copied and pasted from another Web site (or from the product manufacturer’s site.) And while your content needs to feature your keywords, it should also read well. Keyword appearance should seem natural and transparent to users. You want your content to attract people to your site, make them take notice. One great strategy is to post articles related to your products and services. For your digital camera site, write an article on “How to select the right camera for taking action shots.” Or, if you sell gift baskets, write an article on “What type of gift basket is best?” This enables you to write content that will be of interest to your visitors. It will allow you to weave in a wider variety of keyword terms and combinations. It can help you draw in visitors who may not necessarily have been searching terms on your keyword list. And finally, it affords you a way to provide value to users and to build credibility as an expert.</span></p> <p style="margin:5pt 0in 0pt 0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;text-align:justify;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore;">5)<span style="font:7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Build your external and inbound links</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">. The final and most important step is <a href="http://www.mysolutionspot.com/optimizing-online-marketing-efforts/building-inbound-links-1148/1214">building link relationships</a>, because the search engines view links to your site as votes. The more links you have, the more authority and credibility you will have from the search engine perspective. But your links must be relevant; they cannot be bogus or unrelated to your site’s content. If keywords are in those links then you will rank for those terms as well. While the other steps cannot be ignored, links will take you to the top of the page.</span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Implementing a strong Search Engine Optimization strategy takes time. In general, it can take 6 to 9 months to begin to see results. It is also a strategy that must be revisited and refined, because keywords are always changing. In addition, as you update site content or add new products and services, you will want your efforts to be reflective of the changes. But with these five steps you can feel confident that you have a strategic guide to the Search Engine Optimization process.</span></p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> </main></body></html>