Practical Search Engine Optimization or SEO For The Small Business Owner
Practical Search Engine Optimization or SEO For The Small Business Owner
1. Purchase a .Com domain name if at all possible. You may “also” want to purchase .Net or .Info etc., but always start out with a .Com address.
Important Note: I never recommend that you purchase your domain name and your hosting from the same provider. It is much easier, down the road in case of dissatisfaction or disaster, to salvage or move your website--permanently or even temporarily--if your domain name is purchased through a completely separate registrar.
2. If your website is dedicated to a single specialty business try to make sure your keyword appears in your domain name, even if this means that you need to purchase two different domain names--one for your local business cards and one for the Internet.
For example: If your business is named and locally known as "William's Home Design" you can purchase two domain names and put "similar" articles on each.
For Example:
HTTP://www.WilliamsHomeDesign.com and HTTP://www.WilliamsKitchenCabinets.com
NOTE: If you purchase two domain names do "not" use the exact same content on both.
NOTE: Be sure to see my article on Community Websites Your Key To Success for a good dual-domain strategy.
Remember, your domain name is one place that search engines really can not avoid looking. If you keyword does not appear in your domain name, make sure that it appears in each individual webpage or webfolder title...or both.
For example: www.WilliamsHomeDesign.com/cabinets/diy_kitchen_makeovers.html
Domain Name Folder Individual Webpage Name
3. If you have a business website, forget the flash and dazzle.
Do not use flash images on your homepage. It will not impress a serious shopper or business customer, or anyone with a slow Internet connection. Leave the flash and dazzle to the personal and entertainment sites.
*Do not use frames. They are difficult for search engines to follow.
*Do not use javascript navigation unless you also include basic links as well.
*Make sure that your entire site is interlinked and that you do not have any orphan pages.
*Make sure that your 404 File Not Found page is customized, and actually gives some information about your website and returns people to either your home page or your sitemap/index page.
*Always do a sitemap and submit it to the major search engines.
4. Remember to optimize your image files. Always, always, always use relevant keywords in your image file names,in your image "alt" tags, and in any descriptive text. Make them accurately descriptive of the image itself, but make absolutely sure you "naturally" include your keywords in all three places.
5. Make sure that your keywords are included in any on page Titles or Subheadings, and make sure those titles appear between "H1" Title "H2" Heading "H3" Subheading tags.
6. Submit your website to all of the major directories and use different variations on your anchor text instead of just submitting the same text to every site.
7. When you trade links with other relevant sites, do not submit a link to your home page, instead submit a link to a page on your site that is the most topically relevant to that site's viewers. Also do not link to everyone who asks, only link to relevant sites.
8. If you make a donation to a large or small charity or non-profit organization ask for a sponsor's link from their website. A link from a .edu or .org site is almost worth its weight in gold.
9. Add articles or unique content to your site steadily but gradually, over a period of days or weeks so your site will grow naturally in the “eyes” of the search engines.
10. Revise the pages that you already have up on a regular basis so the pages will not appear stale to the search engines.
For more information and down to the basics guidance please see my articles on Practical LSI For The Small Business Owner and What is LSI SEO and How Do I Do It To My Website?.
Practical Search Engine Optimization or SEO For The Small Business Owner - To learn more about this author, visit Teresa Bohannon's Website.
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When you are promoting your business online, you want to do the best possible job of strategically placing relevant content on your site. That is the basic, common sense foundation behind using Search Engine Optimization(SEO). Basic SEO is really pretty easy to do, and for a newly fledged entrepreneur on a budget, taking the time to at least do basic SEO is absolutely vital to your online success.
1. Purchase a .Com domain name if at all possible. You may “also” want to purchase .Net or .Info etc., but always start out with a .Com address.
Important Note: I never recommend that you purchase your domain name and your hosting from the same provider. It is much easier, down the road in case of dissatisfaction or disaster, to salvage or move your website--permanently or even temporarily--if your domain name is purchased through a completely separate registrar.
2. If your website is dedicated to a single specialty business try to make sure your keyword appears in your domain name, even if this means that you need to purchase two different domain names--one for your local business cards and one for the Internet.
For example: If your business is named and locally known as "William's Home Design" you can purchase two domain names and put "similar" articles on each.
For Example:
HTTP://www.WilliamsHomeDesign.com and HTTP://www.WilliamsKitchenCabinets.com
NOTE: If you purchase two domain names do "not" use the exact same content on both.
NOTE: Be sure to see my article on Community Websites Your Key To Success for a good dual-domain strategy.
Remember, your domain name is one place that search engines really can not avoid looking. If you keyword does not appear in your domain name, make sure that it appears in each individual webpage or webfolder title...or both.
For example: www.WilliamsHomeDesign.com/cabinets/diy_kitchen_makeovers.html
Domain Name Folder Individual Webpage Name
3. If you have a business website, forget the flash and dazzle.
Do not use flash images on your homepage. It will not impress a serious shopper or business customer, or anyone with a slow Internet connection. Leave the flash and dazzle to the personal and entertainment sites.
*Do not use frames. They are difficult for search engines to follow.
*Do not use javascript navigation unless you also include basic links as well.
*Make sure that your entire site is interlinked and that you do not have any orphan pages.
*Make sure that your 404 File Not Found page is customized, and actually gives some information about your website and returns people to either your home page or your sitemap/index page.
*Always do a sitemap and submit it to the major search engines.
4. Remember to optimize your image files. Always, always, always use relevant keywords in your image file names,in your image "alt" tags, and in any descriptive text. Make them accurately descriptive of the image itself, but make absolutely sure you "naturally" include your keywords in all three places.
5. Make sure that your keywords are included in any on page Titles or Subheadings, and make sure those titles appear between "H1" Title "H2" Heading "H3" Subheading tags.
6. Submit your website to all of the major directories and use different variations on your anchor text instead of just submitting the same text to every site.
7. When you trade links with other relevant sites, do not submit a link to your home page, instead submit a link to a page on your site that is the most topically relevant to that site's viewers. Also do not link to everyone who asks, only link to relevant sites.
8. If you make a donation to a large or small charity or non-profit organization ask for a sponsor's link from their website. A link from a .edu or .org site is almost worth its weight in gold.
9. Add articles or unique content to your site steadily but gradually, over a period of days or weeks so your site will grow naturally in the “eyes” of the search engines.
10. Revise the pages that you already have up on a regular basis so the pages will not appear stale to the search engines.
For more information and down to the basics guidance please see my articles on Practical LSI For The Small Business Owner and What is LSI SEO and How Do I Do It To My Website?.
Practical Search Engine Optimization or SEO For The Small Business Owner - To learn more about this author, visit Teresa Bohannon's Website.
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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