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Back to Organic SEO Basics
by David Williams - January 7th, 2008
If you want to rank high in the natural
/ organic (non-paid) SERP's (search
engine result pages) you will have to
roll up your sleeves and get down &
dirty - No buts about it, it's hard
work. Content management systems and
dynamically generated content are very
productive solutions for generating
content at a fast and furious pace.
However, they are not search engine
friendly by design and this is where the
hard work comes in. For years I have
said, "Putting up a website for your
business without professional Organic
SEO and Marketing is like buying a phone
for your business but using an unlisted
number" - it makes no sense whatsoever.
Yet time and time again, I have requests
to redesign or SEO websites that did
just that.
Do Your SEO and Market Homework Before
You Build Your Website
Keyword Research and Market Research
should be the first step in any new
website design. How can you expect the
phone to ring when you have an unlisted
number? If you desire to market, promote
and sell, "xyz" online and you have
already identified the need for such a
product or service - it is time to do
the keyword research and market
research.
Don't think of these factors after you
design a dynamic shopping cart with
hundreds of dynamically generated pages
and a CMS (content management system)
that your nephew Johnny will use to add
content when he's finished with his
algebra homework.
Do the homework first so you can
establish a strong foundation built
upon;
- Search Engine Friendly Copy Writing
- Search Engine Friendly Design with an
emphasis on Usability and Navigation
Structure
Keyword Research
You must get inside the minds of your
searchers if you intend for them to find
you.
Website owners and web developers alike
may not see the bigger picture when they
launch their websites. A professional
SEO will look into current search trends
and help you develop a list of "xyz"
related keywords and long-tail keywords
that help you increase the relevancy of
your content and website structure to
help you maximize your ROI.
The search engines are striving to
deliver relevant and reputable results
to searchers. If you build a Flash site
whose content is invisible to the search
engines - there's a pretty strong
likelihood that you will not be viewed
as either relevant or reputable for the
searched "xyz" related words or phrases
and therefore you will likely not rank
well in the search engines.
Relevant Content
Search engine algorithms have become
very adept at discerning the relevancy
of the content on a given web page to
the search strings entered by searchers.
If you learn what the searchers are
looking for related to "xyz" and create
unique, authoritative and relevant
content about "xyz" you will fair much
better in the SERPs.
Reputable Content
The days of Paid Links and Reciprocal
Links as a means to artificially inflate
your link popularity are numbered.
Creating reputable content that
establishes you as an authority on "xyz"
will motivate other site owners to link
to your content and pages. And these
one-way, inbound links from other
reputable and relevant sites will build
your "xyz" reputation.
When you think you're done
Think again, Organic SEO for increased
ranking in the natural listings on SERPs
is an ongoing effort. Don't take my word
for it - look at your competitors and
watch their placement in the search
engines - it is constantly changing as
markets change, algorithms change,
search trends change and searchers
themselves change.
Attention to detail, perseverance and
good old fashioned hard work will
deliver the sustainable long-term
results we all desire.
Be sure to check out
previous issues of
SmallBizNews for other Internet
Marketing ideas as well. We invite your
ideas, comments and suggestions. |
