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Ready to Start Your Own Search Engine Optimization?

Written by: Karen Scharf

Article Overview: Many small businesses also have small budgets, and often don't want to spend the time or money on search engine optimization techniques. Unfortunately, the "if you build it, they will come" philosophy doesn't work too well on the web.

Ready to Start Your Own Search Engine Optimization?

Many small businesses also have small budgets, and often don't want to spend the time or money on search engine optimization techniques. Unfortunately, the "if you build it, they will come" philosophy doesn't work too well on the web.

The fact is, up to 80% of web users begin their surfing at a search engine. Without making the effort necessary to capture these visitors, small businesses are forfeiting tons and tons of traffic each and every day.

According to interactive ad agency Web Ad.vantage of Havre de Grace, Maryland, simply landing a second or third page ranking can increase your traffic by up to nine times. A top ten ranking can lead to an additional 600% traffic increase. This results in an average 42% more sales within the first month of a top ten listing and nearly 100% more sales the second month.

And the best thing about driving organic traffic is that, for a small businesses, the techniques can generally be implemented in-house. Want to start doing some of your own search engine optimization? Follow these steps:

1. Start with an SEO audit.

Get a professional SEO audit to show you what's currently working on your web site and what needs to be fixed. Most SEO agencies and some web design agencies perform these audits for a minimal fee. This will provide a great roadmap as you prioritize your next action steps.

2. Do your keyword research.

Often small businesses have never given any thought to keywords or how their prospects might search for them on the web. The entrepreneur might tell you that his prospects would probably look for "blue plastic widgets" to find him or his web site - and yet the site isn't even close to being optimized for blue plastic widgets. Do your research before doing anything else, and have a plan for tracking and logging your keywords on an ongoing basis.

3. Know what to do with your keywords.

Once you've done this keyword research, you'll need to incorporate those words into your site. Use the keywords in your headlines, in your title tags, in your body copy and in your URLs if possible. Be careful not to go overboard so it doesn't appear as if you're keyword stuffing or spamming.

4. Create a plan for writing copy.

The search engines love fresh, up-to-date content. How many pages of new, optimized web content are you prepared to produce each week?

5. Get comfortable with your web analytics program.

Find an analytics program that works for you. Most hosting companies offer some type of log program; there are professional analytics programs which offer a wide variety of features; there are even great free programs available. (Personally, we use a combination of programs.) Use your analytics to measure your SEO results and make any necessary changes to your on-going strategy.

6. Don't neglect your off-line tactics.

Off-line marketing is still a great way to drive traffic to your web site. We use postcard marketing, free report marketing, off line newsletters, etc to drive traffic to our site. It's always a good idea to use separate tracking URLs so you don't get a skewed measure of your SEO results.

7. Be sure to allocate enough time.

You'll need time for training as well as time for ongoing implementation. Work it into your daily routine just as you'd do for marketing or accounting activities. Create a daily, weekly and monthly strategy. And remember, certain seasonal content may require additional time to coordinate.

8. Prepare for on-going training.

The search engines are constantly changing their algorithms, and you'll need to have a plan for staying on top of these changes. Take a few classes on SEO, subscribe to industry newsletters, consult the Google blogs. Do what ever you can to stay abreast of all the changes that occur.

Once you create a strategic plan, you'll see that your ongoing search engine optimization can be done in-house. You'll need to dedicate a little time and effort, but your increased traffic will be well worth it.

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Article Tags: increase traffic, keywords, SEO, traffic generation



Related Forum Posts
What Do You Want To Be Taught? - Hi, My name is Jeff Foster, I will be moderating this new section. I want to get your opinion on topics you would like to discuss & be taught on. I see a great need for small business owners to learn how to perform basic Search Engine Marketing (SEM) which would include the basics about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). What do you want to be taught on? Jeff
Re: How can I promote my site? - To promote website online you need to hire professional SEO expert because you have to perform the below activities for your website promotion:- Start On page optimization which includes the following task:- 1. Meta tag optimization 2. Header Tag Optimization 3. Alt tag Optimization 4. Content Optimization 5. Anchor Text Optimization 6. URL Optimization 7. Navigation Optimization After On page optimization, Start off Page Optimization which includes the following task:- 1. Link building 2. Directory submission 3. Classified Ads submission 4. Article submission 5. Press Release submission 6. Social Bookmarking 7. Business Listing 8. Local Listing 9. Blog Optimization 10. PPT Creation & Optimization
Re: Search Engine Optimization - If you are interested to get more information about Search Engine Optimization you can visit Search Engine Watch site gives you a great way to keep up with what’s going on in the search engine world. This site provides a ton of information about a very wide range of subjects related not only to search engine optimization, but also the flip side of the coin; subjects related to searching online.
Re: Can someone explain Search engine optimization to me? - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) could be compared to a big popularity contest: A High School Computer Geek and a High School Football Captain who are trying to promote a party. The computer geek tells everyone in school & even hands out 100's of flyers about his party Friday night...what happens? his friends end up showing up and a few new people...even the new people leave right away because it is not what they are looking for. The High School Football Captain ends up just telling a few good buddies, and within hours the entire school not only knows about it, but everyone wants to come, and everyone does come & stay. One defenition of "optimize is "To make as perfect or effective as possibe." How effective are your article marketing campaigns? Could you be distributing content (that is what search engines index) more effectively? In a perfect world, who would you want promoting your website, web pages, and web content? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is determining this perfect & effective way to do this. Jeff
Re: How do I engage seo works to be done for my site? - I read "Search Engine Optimization" for dummies. Gave me a real good foundation on which to build my sites. Really helped a lot.


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