There are many facets to SEO and the search engines continually change their
methods of indexing sites to help prevent the same sites from staying up in the
ranks all the time.
Here are some strategies we have personally used with our web design firm:
1. Google AdWords. This is an excellent and cost effective method of getting
good search results. You set the maximum daily amount you would like to spend on
your key words and phrases. Within the first month we were getting more client
contacts through using AdWords.
2. Overture Keywords. This is a lot like AdWords, but we found that their
system did not really allow you to set a daily limit to how much you wanted to
spend and it quickly got out of hand with some of the phrases we had chosen!
Still, it was pretty cost effective in the grand scheme of things.
3. Yahoo Regional Directories. Once you are able to get your site indexed by
the Yahoo Regional Directories, I think you stay in there for good! We've been
in there for years now and continue to get clients who found us through this
directory. (And it is free to submit your site.)
4. Keywords / Description / Alt Tags / Title Tags / Page Content. All the big
SEO companies rely heavily on these 5 things - all of which are contained in the
code of your web pages. However, with a little research, you could do these
yourself (or have it done by your web designer). A few great tools to help you
with this task are: Overture Keyword Selector Tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/),
Google Suggestion Tool (http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en), Meta Tag
Analyzer (http://www.iboost.com/tools/meta_tag_analyzer.htm), and Keyword
Density Analyzer (http://www.keyworddensity.com/).
The main benefit to hiring a professional SEO company is that they work for
you to constantly update your keywords, etc. and submit your URL to search
engines. They know exactly how many of each keyword to use, etc. And this is
often a service worth paying for if optimization is a real concern in your
industry. A good SEO company will also stay up on what the search engines are
doing and change their tactics accordingly. They will also never use an
"illegal" tactics that could get you banned from the search engine. Be wary of
companies that "guarantee top 10 placement". I recommend http://www.submitsolutions.com.
5. Online Directories. Submitting your website URL to free online directories
is a great avenue of promotion. One way you can find directories is to use
Google or another search engine and type in "(type of your business) online
directories". Some that come up may ask for a small amount to list your site. If
they do, you should always contact them and ask them for more information such
as how many unique visits their directories get per month to see if the price is
a good value.
6. Open Directory Project. http://www.dmoz.org The ODP is one of the main
sources the the Googlebot uses to find new websites. This is a human-maintained
directory - meaning that when you submit your URL, an actual person reviews your
submission to decide if the site is appropriate, etc. It may take some time to
get your site indexed by the ODP, but once it is, you should not have to keep
sending your links.
7. Blog. Having a Blog on your website is a great way to attract visitors to
your site with fresh content. And the search engines love content rich blog
pages. There are free services out there such as http://www.blogger.com, http://www.blog-city.com,
http://www.livejournal.com and many more that allow you to sign up for a free
blog. Of course the best way to blog to have the blog "software" actually
installed on your site. This is something your web designer/programmer could do
for you. I highly recommend sBlog (http://servous.se/) as a free php based Blog
script (you will need php and a MySQL database installed with your web hosting
service to run this).
8. Submit to Google and Yahoo. These two are the top dogs in the search
engine world and both still accept FREE submissions. For Yahoo, you must go
through the categories until you find the most appropriate one for your website.
For Google, you can go to the following URL to submit your site: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
9. Print advertising. Many companies forget that print advertising is still a
very valid way to get visitors to your website. Although this can get costly,
even having your URL printed on your business cards, letterheads and envelopes
is considered print advertising.
10. Be the best you can be. It sounds simple, but a lot of people get so
wrapped up in SEO that they neglect the quality of their website. Remember that
your website reflects your business and should offer a professional, high
quality appearance and useful content. No matter what your business is, your
visitors will be more inclined to stick around or make a purchase if your site
is easy to navigation, has useful information, and looks professional. Labels: google, Search engine marketing, SEO, seo optimising, Tips |
