If you are new to the realm of owning or managing a website, it can be a daunting task to begin your SEO.  Where do you start?  Here are some basics for getting the ball rolling:

-Content, content, and content:  Well written content containing your specific keywords is what is ultimately going to get/increase/keep your rankings.  Just don’t go overboard with your keyword placement.

-Title tags, also know as page titles:  This is the first thing a search engine sees when it finds your page, and is what lets them know what the page, or your site is about.  Make sure every page on your site has a unique title whenever possible.

-Relevant backlinks:  Links to your site from other sites is a very important part of any online marketing campaign.  The more relevant the site, and the link, the better it will be for your site.  Avoid link farms at all costs.  The search engines can/will ding you for using them, especially if you suddely have a ton of links to your site in a very short period of time.

That should be good to get you started.  For more on these and other things you can and should be doing, check out our other posts.

Never Stop Improving!

We talked last week about what Web 2.0 is and how it has developed over time. Here, we will discuss some of the Web 2.0 strategies you should be utilizing for your website or business.  Think of this as a Web 2.0 checklist for getting started.

First, does your website have a blog?  Blogs are a perfect way to constantly increase the content of your site.  Not only do you have the content that you write and post, but then you get the benefit of user participation in the form of questions, comments, or discussions.  This user generated content will constantly grow your website and all you had to do was post an article or discussion.  Blogs are also a great way to establish yourself as an authority on your subject or industry.  You have the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge, answer questions, and lead discussions, all in a very visible forum.  And while updating your content on a regular basis doesn’t directly improve your search engine rankings, it does get the search engines to index your site more often.  So if you are practicing good SEO, and your blog is constantly growing, the search engine spiders are going to visit your site more often and your rankings will improve based on the SEO you’ve worked so hard on.

In addition to having your own blog, it is also important to participate in discussions on other people or companies’ websites.  This gives you an ever important backlink to your site.  Just make sure you are focusing on blogs and discussions that are relevant to your website or business.  Relevant backlinks are one of the best ways to improve rankings.

Another tool to utilize in your Web 2.0 efforts is article submission sites.  Submitting well written articles in relevant areas both helps to further establish that you are an authority on your subject, as well as gives you another relevant backlink.

The last area of Web 2.0 I will talk about here is the still growing popularity of social networking sites.  Setting up a MySpace and Facebook page at the least, is a great way to get exposure for your company.  You get the benefit of user generated content, another relevant backlink, and your website or company is exposed to thousands, potentially millions, of people that normally may not ever find you.

Let us know what you think, or if you’re having trouble getting started.

Never Stop Improving!