This is shockingly easy once you follow a system. Many people get confused with the process of SEO or search engine optimization. It’s much easier if you have just one site to work with first. Get that one up to speed and then move on to the next one if you’re so inclined.
I’ve included two videos (from YouTube) which aptly describe the importance of a few SEO tasks I don’t want you to take lightly. They’re short and valuable. The first step applies to those who are looking to market products or services. If you’re starting a ‘not for profit’ site, it won’t apply.
I’ve included blatant affiliate links to some of the services I use or have used and approve. I’ve tried a few over the years and have tested them on 23 sites of my own. After seeing the results, I have used them on client site optimization with great success too.
You DO NOT have to use these if you have other preferred services. I just find these reliable and their customer service response is good. They are two of my crucial tests. Never use a product or supplier who does not reply or takes too long to respond to your queries. Having said that, if you think you will use any of these types of services, open them, read them and get an idea of what’s on offer. THEN download any free material they may offer and watch their videos (if they provide them). Makes sure you do these two things and understand clearly what’s being offered. If there’s no guarantee, leave!
Everything on this page has been checked by me. If you decide on services external to this page, make sure you check them first or find a REAL review.
Be careful! There are some skilled sales people out there representing inferior products and services.
Keeping a cheat sheet (another name for a reference sheet) handy makes the process so easy a baby or toddler could do this. Well – slight exaggeration but I’m sure you know what I mean.
Eventually it will become habit or common sense and you can throw this cheat away or archive it somewhere. Let’s move on.
Here we go –
1. First off – when choosing a market, check there are plenty of quality items to sell (use affiliate products & your own). When researching the market for your commercial profit niche, take it seriously because you’ll put a lot of work in after you’ve chosen. Only use Adsense when it suits the market you’re in. Adsense is not always a good use of website real estate these days as many webmasters will attest.
2. Robot access – Your site must be able to be read by Google spiders, best to use php and html
3. Meta Tags – are important (perhaps not for Google but most of all the other engines). I recommend you have the same keyword phrases in your content as you do in your meta keywords. The positive results are quite noticeable if you do. Thoroughly check and complete the following;
– Title Tags (see the video below)
– H1 tags
– Meta keywords
– Meta description
– Alt tags (for your images) must have a text description (all of them)
– Robots follow tags
– No-follow tags where applicable
– Include a Site Map on ALL sites
– Avoid dynamic pages (re issue with Google spiders) and too much flash. There is more on this but if you aren’t highly literate with coding, avoid dynamic pages.
4. One theme per site
– Research keywords – I use Wordtracker
– each theme silo to be a sub theme of the theme (for an education on Themes and Silos see my article entitled Latent Semantic Indexing, Themes, Silo & SEO Tools.
– each sub theme to have researched kwd phrases as their sub theme influence
– the ‘url silo system’ must be undertaken accurately and carefully
– use – ‘Themezoom‘ for theme, silo and article research. There’s even free information & videos there on long tail keywords, silo structures, LSI, and Themes.
5. Content – All articles and primary content must be original (no exceptions, including articles to submission sites). Link-bait articles with images and a complimentary video are best.
7. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) – use it with all articles and silo building. You’ll see more on this later.
8. DMOZ – Submit your site before commercial links and banners are uploaded if time allows. It’s a great directory but some of the volunteers are on a power trip I hear and don’t count too much on being listed quickly. Many of the editors don’t seem to have a good reputation from what I can gather.
9. Check all links – (are not broken) before submitting to DMOZ
10. Listing – can be achieved in 48 hours by submitting your URL to Yahoo Questions – use integrity here and be helpful. You’ll be rewarded.
11. Prime directories – for submission (care to be taken here) – use highly regarded directories such as BOTW, Business.com, Joeant, Aviva, V7n and Blog Directories with a high PR and Traffic. Yahoo has question marks over it these days and may not be worth the cost. When writing descriptions, make sure each one is original. Do not use software which distributes the same descriptions to hundreds of directories. Free directories are fine but check their traffic and PR.
12. Include self promotion links – or buttons such as; Tell a friend, Link To me, Tag me, Add To Favourites etc on your pages.
13. Social Marketing is imperative – don’t cheat! These sites require real people to make a decision on your site. Make your remarks worth their while. Use Socialmarker to help upload your site page and description and tags. Here are some places to learn more on the use of Social media.
14. Stickiness
– Ensure your site has Web 2.0 characteristics & auto tag buttons
– i.e. Forum, pole, comments, visitor review scripts
– Where applicable include videos (either self made with Camtasia, Vegas or download from Youtube or similar etc.)
15. Affiliate links & Adsense should only be applied after Directories and DMOZ submission are complete.
16. Affiliate links are best used in the articles with relevant, informative and worthwhile content supporting their value and encouraging purchase
17. Only use relevant or light-hearted images (be selective) and always include alt text!
18. Build the site for the visitor AND the search engine NOT just the search engine – then check and recheck its appeal
19. Back-links. You will need other people’s sites linking to you. This is imperative. Read those last two last sentences again. They are the most important links. Reciprocal links are questionable and it has been my experience, the value you gain for the trouble you go to is insignificant. You are best to spend your time looking for back-links from sites with a higher PageRank (PR) 4 and up and preferably in the same theme. There are seven things to avoid on your road to successful SEO.
20. SEO Training and Tips – There will be other things I haven’t covered here but these are essential for success with organic SEM (search engine marketing) and SEO (search engine optimization). I thought seriously about taking the above points and compiling a book or guide but I read the SEO book recently and it would be hard to surpass such an informative and continually updated piece of literature on affective SEO. I wish it was mine and I agree with everything in it. Why? Because it has all worked for me.
Many of my sites are on the first page of Google because of the information in this guide. The author (Aaron Wall), is frequently approached by notable SEO specialists to get his opinion or input. I recommend you at least glean the SEO book’s introduction page. He even supplies a 100% guarantee – I’ve learned (over time) that a full guarantee is absolute confidence in your product when you can offer something as valuable as that!
That’s it! I hope you found something useful here. Remember not to rush in and you’ll be fine!
All the best,
Ray Baker.