Search Engine Optimization Tips & Tricks
Well .. there really are no tricks, but we do have some tips that may help give you some insight as to what SEO is and how to make the most of it for your website.
First of all, here is a definitition of what SEO is all about: Short for search engine optimization, the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a website by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a website ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site. SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.
Know your target customer
With any marketing campaign the first step in optimizing your web page is to know who your target audience is. For instance, are you marketing yourself to other businesses or to the consumer? This is so important because it not only can determine the overall appearance of your site, but also the keywords you chose.
It is imperative that you nail who your target is before you do anything else because if you don’t it doesn’t matter how big your site is, or how many pages you have. If you don’t write to the right crowd you aren’t going to get too much business.
The best thing is to outline who you think the target is. Be very detailed. For example, your target may be a 25-35 year old male, with a college degree, who is into sports and fitness. He makes $35,000 per year and has a very active lifestyle. Picture the person in your mind. The better you can define them in your mind the more successful you will be.
Choose the right keywords
Try to think like your target audience. What would they search for when looking for the page you are optimizing? It is very easy to fall in the trap of coming up with a short list of what YOU would search for, but what about everyone else? They will not necessarily use the same keywords as you. You should try to come up with as many keyword phrases as you can think of that relate to the page you are optimizing. Try asking a few friends and family what they would search for when searching for a site like yours.
Think "specific keyword phrases" not "keywords". Due to the extreme amount of competition for general terms in the search engines, if your keyword phrases are too general it is very unlikely you will rank well in the search engines. You stand a far better chance to rank well for specific phrases where there is less competition. The resulting traffic, since it is more highly targeted, should also be much higher quality too!
Don't guess -- know what they are searching for.
Write the proper Content
The copy on your page is also very important in order to achieve better search engine listings. Actually, it is very close to being as important as your title tag so make sure you keep reading! By 'copy' we mean the actual text that a visitor to your site would read.
For best results we recommend that each page has at least 200 words of copy on it. There is some cases where this much text can be difficult to put on a page, but search engines really like it so you should do your best to increase the amount of copy where you can.
This text should include your most important keyword phrases, but should remain logical & readable.
Be sure to use those phrases that you have used in your other tags during the optimization process.
Add additional copy filled pages to your site. For example, how-to articles, tips or tutorials. These types of content pages not only help you in the search engines, but many other sites will link to them too.
Don't ignore this tip! Seriously, optimizing your page copy is one of the most important things you could possibly do to improve your listings in the search engines. So, make sure you have plenty of it even if you need to redesign your site to work it in!
Coming soon! How To Make Your Website A Workhorse
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