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Search Engine Optimization in a Box?
Can a software package or online miracle site touting
testimonials and grandeur guarantees of success elevate your
online presence enough to really increase sales?
Unfortunately, unless the software or miracle website were able
to research your market, find hidden niches within it, author
intriguing, creative, relevant and keyword laden content, house
it in a framework that meshes precisely with that content,
dissect and analyze your ranking competition and apply that
statistical data within the afore mentioned tasks, you'll be
using that money back guarantee.
The same goes of number one rank promises for a keyword for $49.
Now I'm not suggesting a claim like that is bogus or false
advertising. But, ask if that keyword or phrase has actually had
more than one search somewhere in the world in the past month.
Or to shake them, insist your keyword phrase they must bring to
the number one spot is "online casino.
IS THERE INEXPENSIVE HELP THAT WORKS?
Is there a working alternative for smaller businesses and sites
that can't budget pro SEO right now? There are techniques that
would give your site a chance of rising higher in the ranks.
You'll find countless articles and instructions online and in
bookstores about general things you can do to your site to
improve it's online presence.
While helpful and usually accurate, blindly applying techniques
to your site without some further knowledge of your own site,
your competition, and your online market will hinder your
efforts.
With some real world, current analysis of YOUR individual
situation at your disposal, you can greatly improve your efforts
with even the smallest copy, title or content adjustment. It is
going to require some work on your part, no matter what
do-it-yourself tactics you employ.
HOWEVER, there are tools and analysis reports available to you
that can give you a towering leap for the do-it-yourselfer. Some
plain English comparisons of your page vs. the top 10 ranking
pages in a particular engine for a particular keyword phrase
will define dozens of parameters to begin your do - it -yourself
optimization.
How many links do you need, are there better keywords you should
choose, and then what do you do with all this information once
you have it? Comparisons and analysis of your site and your
competitors are usually presented in an easy to understand
format and reveal patterns and collected intelligence that can
help you re-write and revise your content and page layout and
begin your SEO efforts a lap ahead of everyone else.
SET REALISTIC GOALS
You must remember, legitimate, professional search engine
optimizers are immersed in their field and are educated with
experience. The time, knowledge, talent and effort that you get
with a pro is worth every penny.
A professional SEO's approach involves research of your market,
competition and many times a significant renovation of your
existing site from code to content. The in-depth detail and deep
analysis, content development, link and page structure requires
a significant amount of time, experience, and a lot of hand
work.
In other words, if you want to feel better and improve your self
image, you don't have to pay a doctor to tell you that eating
healthy, taking a vitamin and regular exercise will make a
marked improvement in your well being.
If you want the large scale, lasting and radical change a
facelift can give you, you must pay a plastic surgeon for his
education, experience and talent.
Don't forget to use some common sense when looking at your
market. If you think you're going to rank for a highly
competitive keyword that has several well known companies at the
top without the aid of a professional, you'll probably end up
disheartened.
Achieving first page ranks for competitive keywords in a
saturated market is a mammoth task, and at the very least would
require a full time effort by an experienced firm with resources
to take on such a challenge. Don't be discouraged; with some
brainstorming you can think of some related, less competitive
keywords and niche markets to target.
HOW A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE CAN GO A LONG WAY
Some very simple copy adjustments in the right place can go a
long way on less competitive sites. Let's look at a few easy
changes anyone can make.
Page Titles
The page title, the words that display in the top of your web
window, is one of the most crucial elements on the page as far
as the search engines go. When you do a search for something
what do you type in the search field? Unless it's a company's
specific name, you type in a keyword or key phrase like "mens
cross training air sneakers".
A very common mistake is to put your company name in the page
title. Sometimes it's appropriate, but for ranking purposes, use
a concise description of your page with a prime keyword from
that page.
Bonus Hint- Start your first sentence with that same keyword!
Content Quality
You'll surely find as many opinions about content as there are
about politics. Take away the extremes and you'll find the meat
is the same. To increase your rank, you have to have searchable
content, and it must be quality. What is quality? More
importantly, what do the search engines think is quality?
The answers depend on your site and position on the internet.
However, all quality content shares some characteristics.
It's useful information about your products or service. Don't
throw random free, generic, carbon copied stuff from the web
onto your site. Use some thought and creativity. Build copy
around different aspects of your target.
LOOK FROM A NEW PERSPECTIVE
If you have a site about restoring classic cars, make a page
about the evolution of headlights over the decades. Add another
page about how and where to find hard to find classic parts.
Content should be:
Easy to follow- and well written for a human reader, not a
search engine.
Unique- write it yourself or hire a writer.
Varied- Don't fill your page with the same keyword repeatedly or
you risk being considered spam. Examine the keyword densities of
your keyword in the top 10 listings it returns in a particular
engine. Stay within that number.
Take a few more evenings or weekends and improve your ranks by
doing some research and digging, and applying that invaluable
knowledge strategically to your web site.
KINDS OF SEO RESEARCH you can do to win
There are SEO companies online who offer various reports that
can save you a lot of the legwork. Even the simplest of tasks
can be too time consuming when you need to focus on editing your
pages. For example, finding your current rank, if any, in all of
the major engines for all of the keywords you want to rank could
take a day on your own. Some other types of reports available
are:
Keyword Research-
A list of keywords you or I might make sitting down with a
pencil and paper is a good start. The important word here is
"start". That list is dozens of revisions away from completion.
It will expand and contract many times as further information is
gathered.
Are your words focused and targeted enough so you'll attract
qualified leads? Are there related words and phrases that you
haven't thought of? What words does your competition have
throughout their pages? And most importantly, are the words
you've chosen actually being typed into search engines?
You can find many different levels of keyword services from
simple analysis of your existing pages to research and
development of an entire list ready for use in your pages,
Adwords or PPC campaigns.
Competition Research-
Who is ranking now? Who is in the positions where you want to
be? Examine your competition's pages with a microscope. An
Understanding of those you want to outrank gives you a working
outline to revise your own. (Do NOT copy their content.) Focus
on trends, keywords, densities, titles, page elements... their
pages, structures and their links.
On Page Optimization-
A report like this analyzes the words in the elements on your
page like titles and boldface or headings as well as your body
copy, and link text. It also tells you information about keyword
density. Earlier I mentioned that using a keyword too many times
on a page could be considered spam. An analysis like this will
show how many times each word, word pairs and groups of words
were used on a page and what percentage of all the words they
are.
A report on a high ranking competitor's site will give you some
insight into a page that is successfully ranking for keywords
you want.
Off Page or Link Reports-
As soon as you start learning about search engine optimization,
you'll understand what a key role good quality links play in
determining rank. These types of analysis will show who is
linking to you, or even better, who is linking to a ranking
competitor. You can get some ideas of sites to list with and an
approximate number of links of a particular quality that you'll
need to rank.
TAKE SOME ACTION- a few well researched changes can give you a
boost
If ranking and online presence are crucial, then find a
respected, recommended and experienced search engine
optimization professional. The same logic that tells you to go
to the doctor when aspirin doesn't do the applies to this
situation.
If budget is constricting, your keywords have little
competition, or you'd like to improve your presence to the best
it can be without employing a professional then you'd be
surprised what a little knowledge and time can do for your
ranking. Applying the same techniques every few weeks and
keeping your site fresh will put you a level even higher above
the rest.
Remember, many variables and factors are considered and given
varying weights by different engines to determine where you
rank. A brand new site, no matter how optimized it is usually
doesn't show any rank in Google until it miraculously appears
about a year later. Older sites of more than a few years often
take the top ranks for competitive words.
Don't be discouraged. The simple SEO methods you read about
online or in publications can give your site a stronger
presence, but will achieve far better results for you if you
employ some smaller, budget based intelligence and research.
About the author:
John Krycek is a SEO and Creative Director at theMouseworks.ca.
Learn more about SEO Site Reports
available and web marketing www.themouseworks.ca