1. Choosing the right keywords for your pages.
Just typing in a batch of keywords into your Meta tags is not going to cut it. Doing keyword research to make sure people are actually searching for the keywords you are using is critical to getting good positioning in the search engines.
To do keyword research, you need to come up with all of the phrases you think someone might type into the search engines when they are looking for your products or services. Once you have made an extensive list of 40-50 phrases, you need to then check to see how much traffic those words generate on a daily basis. You can find this information by using SEO tools such as Wordtracker, Market Samurai, or even Google Keyword Tools.
You should never focus on words that get less than 20 searches per day as that is a waste of yout time and efforts. The goal is to target the greatest amount of traffic with the least amount of effort.
2. Analyse your traffic and site performance.
Install Google Analytics or a similar stats tracking script on your pages so you can visibly see exactly how much traffic you are getting, where it is coming from and what keywords have been the most effective in drawing visitors to your site. This is very important. If you don’t have this information you can never tell what is working and what is not.
I like to put this on my sites very early on in the process. That way I can get immediate feedback on the improvements I am making and measure my progress of increased visibility, keyword effectiveness and traffic sources.
3. Create Meta tags and titles that fit each page of content.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to use the exact same title and Meta tags for every page of your website. Each page should have a unique title, keywords and description.
Think of each page as a new opportunity to reach customers. Because not every person will arrive to your website by using the same search terms, having a different twist on each page will increase your chances of grabbing the most search traffic.
The most important thing is to keep this information as streamlined and relevant to the page content itself as possible. Do not get tempted to use generic or too broad terms. The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to match what your customers type into the search box.
For example, if your site sells sweaters you would not want to just use that as your keyword phrase. You would want to be specific by using terms such as Womens knit sweaters or Mens pullover sweaters, etc. because that is more likely to be a term your potential customers would use when searching for your products.
4. Integrate your new keywords into your page contents.
Just filling in your Meta tags, title and description is not enough to grab the attention of the search engines because their focus is now on site relevency. They want to see that the page content matches your Meta tags.
To do this, you need to use those same key phrases throughout the text, heading titles and link structure of your pages. You have to be careful though not to overdo it. Stuffing them excessively into your pages will create adverse results. Generally, if you use the keywords 3-4 times on a page that has plenty of text on it that will be enough to satisfy the search engines that your page contains information about the topic.
5.Verify your site with the Big 3 Search Engines.
Even if your site is already indexed in the top 3 search engines, you should still take the time to manually submit and verify your site with them. This would mean registering for their webmaster tools and uploading an XML sitemap. For Google, it is called Google Webmaster Tool;Yahoo is called Yahoo Site Explore and Bing is called Bing Webmaster Tool.
Take the time to fully explore these SEO tools. They are free and they are powerful. From them you can get valuable information on your site’s performance and a glimpse of what the search engine sees when it crawls your site.
6. Set up your internal linking structure.
The way the pages of your site interact with each other can be critical in sending the right message to the search engines. You can stress the importance of a single page, typically the page that generates income, just by having other pages with anchor text links pointing to it.
The more pages within your site that utilize this powerful link structure, the more effective it will be. By using your keyword phrases as your text links within your page content, you are able to reinforce the relevency of that page to the search engines.
Many site owners focus too much on external links and forget this one key component in website optimization.
7. Keep the search engines and traffic coming back for more.
Creating fresh content for your website will give both the search engines and your visitors a reason to keep coming back for more. No one likes a site that never changes. If you have not updated your site in a long time, chances are the search engines have stopped sending visitors your way.
Your goal should be, at the very least, one new page or blog post per week. This is one instance where more is better, BUT make sure that the content is relevant and important enough to add value to your site. Do not publish inferior content just for the sake of updating your site. Visitors will stop coming if you are not delivering quality.
8. Reach out to your customers and prospects with social media.
Sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow you to not only share your information and products with the masses, it also allows you to interact and get feedback. I am sure you have noticed that most major companies now utilize social marketing as a key factor of their product promotion. You do not need to be a heavy hitter to compete on this platform. The key is to be targetted.
Use your knowledge of the demographics of your market to search out your prospective buyers but do NOT try to sell on social sites. The idea is to just raise awareness, spark interest and create a raport with your customers. No one likes a salesman at a party. So don’t spoil the fun by pitching in social sites.
9. Build links to your website from other sites.
This is the mose misused and abused aspect of SEO. Getting quality inbound links to your site is important. You should not go hog wild with it though. Link building should be a slow and natural process that is sustained throughout the life of your website.
The ideal incoming link would be an anchor text link on a trusted website. How do you do this? There are many ways to get other sites to include links to your site from theirs. You could participate in forums where you place your anchor text in your signature. You can comment on other people’s blogs. You can request a link exchange with other sites.
The main things to keep in mind is relevence and manners. Do not try to exploit other people’s websites. Not only is it a total waste of your time, since most sites will not approve it, but it is just bad manners.
10. Revisit, revise, test and tweak.
You need to remember that the internet is evolving. As such, things can change at a rapid rate. You need to stay on top of what is currently working and what is no longer effective or relevant. You can only do this by analysing your numbers and measuring the effects of any changes you make.
A good SEO plan of action includes going back over all of the above on a regular basis to keep them up-to-date with shifts in your market and the trends of the internet community as a whole.
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