SEO top 5 things you need to know!

SEO is Search Engine Optimization.  How are people going to find you these days? No matter if you are an online firm or an offline firm, reaching the public is now the same.  Yep, Google or Bing/Yahoo…  So it is critically important for you to know how to be found.  As simple as possible you must do On Page and Off Page SEO work.

On-Page SEO means making your Website work for you to be found in the search engines.  Each page in your site needs to be laser focused for the keywords that you want to be found.  This requires a good bit of upfront thinking and strategy.  You will modify your site to be as attractive as possible for the particular keywords that you want the engines to find.

Off –Page SEO is perhaps even more critical than  On-Page.  Part of how a search engine “ranks” a page is based on how many other pages in the world know about it.  This is called “backlinks” and it needs to be done right.  Good quality backlinks done right get your page much higher rankings on the Search Engines.

On-Page Search Engine Optimization Top 5 Things you need to know:

1. Unique, accurate Meta Tags, especially the page title still count!Is your home page named “home”?  You FLUNK!!!!    Get your page titles with their own unique title that includes the main keywords for that page.   Unique keywords do NOT include home, or about, or contact us!  They are the keywords that you are trying to sell on or attract customers.  The title needs to be 65-72 characters in length.  Anything more gets chopped off.  Provide a description meta tag – search engines will use this as part of their search result display.  Keep the meta description length to 150-161 characters.
2. News Paper Headline work!  Use the H1, H2, and H3 tags Keywords:Search Engines read your site like a newspaper.  They scan first for Headings and sub headings before they glance over the content.  The H1 – H3 tags are critical for good On-Page SEO results.  Prioritize your keywords with H1 being the most important and work your way down to H3.  You can have progressively more sub headings but do not over do it!
3. Not so common sense URLs work for people and search engines!Match your URL design with your keyword design.  Use real words and not /page3!  Try to keep your important pages as static (not database generated) page names so that they can be found over and over again.  Avoid spaces but use_underscore_or-dashes-to-link-words.  Sometimes spaces get whacked.  It is not supposed to happen but why take the chance?
4. Do you have the ideal 2-5% Keyword Density?Search Engines find your page based on Keywords.  The more of the same keyword on a page the better then, right?  Absolutely not!  The engines are trying to avoid keyword stuffed pages.  They are trying to give you, the searcher, the best results.  Yes, you can get pages written in India with correct keyword density, but I swear Google will one day make grammar part of their page ranking!  Use variants of the keyword, long and short strings and close in kind words to craft your page.  Use tools to measure the density.  When in doubt ask if the message works for your customer and forget the search engines.
5. DCP_9023 is not a good name for your picture:Name the photos based on what they are (keywords) and always use Alt Text to describe the pictures, again using good keyword for the image and the page.  There are many other tips related to good use of photos.  Call my Google Voice to get more high quality tips: 484-639-9789.

Off- page Search Engine Optimization Top 5 Things you need to know:

1. You are your own cartoon – Syndicate!:Syndication means taking an article that you have written and distributing more broadly across the Net.  There are many do/do not’s involved here.  Like making sure your article was found by the spiders on your own site before you spread it.   It is a a great technique for off-page search engine optimization! Done right you can generate huge traffic from new and unique visitors to your website. You want to keep in mind high quality backlinks as you do this to maximize your results.
2. Are you AntiSocial?:Birds do it bees do it even fleas have their own Facebook page.  But there is so much more to being social than just slapping up a page.  Work with a high quality SEO expert to develop this critical to success Social Media strategy.  While you are at it, make sure you understand where to be (at least on Twitter, Facebook , and  Linkedin) and how to be bookmarked!   Social bookmarking sites are growing leaps and bounds.  I use Stumble Upon and Delicious.  Done right bookmarking can drive significant traffic by helping interested people find you faster and more often.   Read more about Twitter as your Unique Selling Proposition here: http://phoenixstrat.com/blog/?p=1
3. Who’s who and where are you?Did you know that Yahoo is not a search engine?  It is a directory!  Do you care?  Yes!  Think of directories like your kid’s middle school phone book: obscure, highly focused and very valuable when you need to use it.  Get your site submitted to directories and it will help your rankings!  This is a part of link building (backlinks).  You need to have a thought out approach to building quality backlinks to your site.  Do NOT SPAM your site!  Yeah, you could post all over porn sites and get tons of links and maybe traffic (1 click no nudes click back) but that is stupid.  This is perhaps the single most important part of SEO.  Get it done right.  Call me to find out how 484-639-9789.
4. To Blog or not to Blog isn’t the question!It is how to Blog!  Most people assume that they should have a Blog attached to their site so that they can wax on about the arcane.  That is so yesterday to quote my 6 year old.  You need to find someone else’s blog and post their!  Yep.  IF you have time for only one such activity a day do not write your own blog, write into someone else’s.  Do it right.  Look for relevant blogs that have a decent following in their own right.  Post nonSPAM comments and as appropriate reference back to your own site.   You’re created a quality backlink and established yourself (in a minor way) as being part of the social expert experiment.
5. And yes, you need to do your own Blog!I use both Blogger and WordPress.  They are easy and can be fun!  Blogging can act as the glue for all of your social media efforts.  Remember, you just wrote a brief expert comment on someone else’s blog?  Follow that up with an expanded comment on your own Blog.  Make games or contests  for  your customers.  DO NOT make it your FAQ or Technical Troubleshooting area.  NO ONE WANTS TO READ THIS.  (Did I shout that? Sorry).  You can easily link your Blog to Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-in.   Keep it fresh, keep it fun, keep it building quality backlinks for you!

SEO is critical to your success.  If you do not have an SEO Strategy what are you waiting for!  Call me to set up a free 2 hour chat.  I’ll look over your website and current efforts and help get you moving in the right direction.  Do it now because your competition is not waiting for you!  Google Voice me at 484-639-9789 or email jhaslam@PhoenixStrat.com.