SEO – It’s Not As Hard As You Think. Do Even Half Of These 6 steps
& you’ll be way ahead of your competition. Absolute beginners should read on…
The phrase that fills everyone with dread – Search Engine Optimisation. There – I’ve said it & I must admit, until recently the thought of getting involved in this field would start a panic attack. Now it’s not so bad – I can sit down & think about writing a couple of hundred words without my hands starting to shake.
Why is it like this? Fear of the unknown I’d say. It’s a field that’s surrounded by gurus, wizards, secret underground techniques – some of which cost a hideous amount of money. So, obviously, if some guru’s are making fortunes with their “insider secrets”, then what chance do we stand? A lot, actually – genuinely and realistically, a heck of a lot more than you’d think.
Here’s how these things work. Like most new techniques and skills we’re faced with, we can buy in the expertise, or sit down with a guide book & take the time to work it out. I COULD probably work out how to change the oil & plugs on my car – it’s not in warranty any more & there’ll be a guide book somewhere & obviously I’d save a fortune over the years. But I don’t – I call a local garage; they do it & they take responsibility if they break something.
It’s the same with SEO- I paid someone to tell me where to start (James at 415 systems in Texas - I’ll tell you how you can get his new book), but realistically, I could’ve taken the time to beg, steal, borrow what I needed, if I could’ve persuaded myself it was achievable…
What is SEO & Why is it important?
Quite simply it’s the FREE way to get your site as far up the search results as possible. Any Google search shows three things – the top PAID (PayPerClick) results highlighted in purple across the top of the page; the next tier of PAID (PPC) adverts down the right side. The rest of the results down the centre block are from sites that have used SEO to drive their rankings & not directly PAID Google to display their site. Why not just pay & have done with it? Two reasons – a tiny bit of effort can get the same results as paying & more importantly, some research (not from Google obviously) has shown that only 5% of clicks go to PPC adverts, compared to 40-45% to Organic ranked sites. (Ryan Deiss’ Perpetual traffic report – a must read & currently free)
So here are 6 SEO tips James showed me that have transformed my blog & site rankings:
1) Your domain name – make it short, relevant to your niche (2/3 words, 14-16characters) E.g. www.onlinewebideas.com, will always be higher ranked than www.internetstrategiesforbeginners.com, which will be seen as more “spammy”.
2) On site – make your Page Title (the Blue bit on a search result) contain niche keywords. Capitalise Each Word.
3) On site – Make Your Description metatags (what sits below the Page Title on a search result) relevant to your business. Capitalise Each Word.
4) Use Keywords throughout the site – titles, pages, subtitles, and anchor text. (Anchor text is the blue underlined text you see in articles & blogs)
5) You must LINK – to other sites & have them link to you (Outbound & Inbound. This gives your site Authority, but be careful how you do this –see James’ book & Ryan’s report).
6) Your site must be active – update it. Add articles & valuable content. Don’t forget a lot of this can be free for you to get hold of. Blog regularly (& make sure each blog post follows all the rules about keywords, anchor text etc), provide multiple avenues for people to Link, follow, (via Social Media and Social Bookmarking) subscribe to your blog, newsletter, output, articles etc
In his own words “If you do HALF of these, you’re way ahead of practically all of your competition”.
Do the next step & buy his book from http://ranking-number1.com/. It’s aimed at beginners; contains rock solid advice & again, that isn’t an affiliate link. I’m not getting paid, just happy to recommend something from someone I’ve known for a few years & trust implicitly with my site & my reputation.
As you might expect, it’s ideally partnered by our www.webcashpoint.com series!
Wishing you every success,
Neil & Lorraine Allen