A lot of people call me about optimizing their site to improve their standing within the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, and MSN/Live) for a few to multiple keyword phrases.
Many callers or website visitors are shocked to learn that I ain’t cheap, and I make no apologies for that. I prefer to say I’m extremely “cost effective” when compared to radio, television, newspaper, magazine, or billboard advertising. Furthermore, I share my processes and methodologies throughout which means my clients receive valuable educational benefits that will enable them to take over their own optimization campaigns once they feel comfortable enough. I also offer basic plans which allow a client with a good web presence to maintain their rankings with a lesser investement. The truth is most of my clients don’t have the time or staff to dedicate to a successful SEO campain so that’s where I come in. I can offload some of those tasks for them and provide that peace of mind they are looking for.
With all of that said, I figured now would be a good time to share some basic tips & tricks for those that do have the time to dedicate to improving their website’s presence within the search engines. All of these are ethical and time tested. If the search engines change their algorithms, it won’t impact you too much.
1) Write content rich articles–this is a common sense approach to growing the popularity of your business online and offline. If you write something that people really want to read, they’ll generally want to learn more about the author. That’s where your byline at the bottom comes in. You should always include a link to your site in any correspondence you produce. Some of the better online article directories you can submit your articles to in order to gain exposure include:
- http://www.zinos.com
- http://www.ezinearticles.com
- http://www.articlecity.com
- http://www.weeno.com
- http://www.articledashboard.com
- http://www.goarticles.com
- http://www.articlesfactory.com
- http://www.article99.com
2) Include your link everywhere–again, this is another common sense approach that applies offline as well as online. In your e-mail signature, you should have a link to your site. On your letters to potential customers or partners, you should include your web address somewhere on the letter. If you use letterhead for a majority of your letters, make sure you have your web address on there somewhere. Same with envelopes, product packaging, brochures, handouts, giveaways, fillers, company vehicles, etc. Anywhere a potential customer may see something from your company, they should also see a web address. This is another form of marketing that doesn’t cost an arm or a leg. If you’re looking for some items to brand with your website, visit http://www.cafepress.com for some ideas.
3) Regularly comment on blogs, message boards, and news based sites. Be sure to include a link to your site either in the message body or in the area provided for your link. If you can, use a targeted keyword phrase for the anchor text. Anchor text is the more descriptive text you see to mask the long drawn out website URL as demonstrated below:
If you are interested in SEO Pricing, you may want to visit this page: http://smbconsultinginc.com/seo_pricing.html. Both links point to the exact same page, but one is “optimized” for a targeted keyword (SEO Pricing) whereas one is not. When people search, they are more likely to search for “SEO Pricing” than they are for a URL. Think about it–if someone knew the URL, they’d simply type it in, but most people can’t remember a long URL whereas they can usually think of a couple of words to try to find something online. Many blogs and message boards will use your name section as the anchor text so replace your name with a targeted keyword phrase. The best blogs to post comments on have a lot of links pointing to them (often referred to as “authority”). To find a blog that might apply to your particular company, industry, or general interest, visit http://www.technorati.com and do a search for a phrase that you believe applies. Search for sites with a lot of authority, and have fun participating in the conversation. Don’t forget to include that link!
One last bit of advice that may generate a lot of buzz around your site. If you post comments on blogs, news sites or social networking sites and include your link, try to find a topic that has a little bit of controversy built into it. Subjects such as religion, politics, and sports have passionate believers and huge followings that will take a side on an issue very quickly. I’m not suggesting you go in there and piss everyone off, but it wouldn’t hurt you to contribute something thought provoking or a differing point of view to further stoke the debate. Your objective is to stand out somehow so that people will take notice. The easiest way to accomplish that goal is to contribute something unique to a topic that already has people buzzing.
There you have some very basic SEO tips that are as much marketing tips as they are anything. I hope you’ll put some of them to the test and share the results.