|
Be Your Own SEO
What can a SEO firm do for you that you can't do for
yourself? Nothing, if you have the time and resources. But
to be fair, they
can do it quicker and better, because they have the
know-how, experience and all the right programs. Search
engine optimization is a field of study that not everyone
could or would want to master. Most SEO's don't advertise
services unless they've had some success in the area and
first hand experience to back it up.
You do have to be careful when choosing a good SEO because
there are some incredible sales pitches out there. Think about it
next time you run across one.
Anyone can guarantee you a number one placement for your
site name - it's the only site out there with that domain
name so if it doesn't come up number one, it's a
no-brainer to fix.
Other sales pitch busters:
-Why would you want to be ranked #1 on keywords that
aren't going to bring you traffic that you can convert
into sales? You wouldn't, it's a waste of effort.
-Why would you want to optimize pages for search
engines that people aren't using? The number one
search engine will bring you 90 - 95% of all your search
engine traffic and 99.9% of all your search engine traffic
will come from the top three search engines and the 2
major directories. Optimize your pages for the top search
engine since that's where most of your search engine
traffic is going to come from.
-Why would you want your site submitted to hundreds or
thousands of search engines and directories? There are
only a handful of legitimate
search engines and directories you
absolutely need to submit to -- the rest are a complete
waste of your time,
obscure directories, link farms and FFA pages that will
bring you tons of junk mail if you submit a valid e-mail
address, so don't fall for a pitch like that if you're
going to pay for SEO services.
Actually, it's going to cost you, either way. Research,
analysis and optimization is going to take up a lot of
your time and if you buy automated programs to help you
monitor and track your progress, well, some are quite
expensive. SEO covers a lot of territory that the average
person just doesn't have the time and resources to tackle.
A lot of improvements you can do yourself but if you make
a major mistake or don't get it right, it could cost you
more in the long run. Either way, results are not
guaranteed no matter what anyone tells you, so if you're
not up to it, save yourself some time and grief and hire a
professional. The return on your investment will be more
sales from increased 'targeted traffic'. Targeted traffic
means people who want to buy what you are selling are
finding your site instead of your competitors sites, not
just zillions of hits from uninterested parties.
First, you really have to know your targeted market to
select keyword phrases that they will search on to find
sites similar to yours. Once you select the right
combination of keywords to attract your market, you must
incorporate them into your pages and optimize each page to
get as high a listing as possible. You can rank higher
than other sites if your pages are optimized better than
theirs are for the same or similar keywords if you match
the search engines criteria closer than they do. Incoming
links to your site also help determine your positioning.
As the algorithms change and shift, you will want to test
and tweak each area of your pages to get the most optimal
results possible to beat your competitors.
First it's all about just getting listed in at least the
top 30 of each major search engine, then it's about
getting listed in the top ten. To rank #1 for as many
targeted key phrases as possible is the ultimate goal. The
more listings you get for related search terms and keyword
phrases, the more
traffic you will get. Once you get in the top thirty, it's
all about outranking your competitors for that coveted #1
spot. Your industry
competitors aren't necessarily the same as your keyword
ranking competitors. In search engine ranking, your
competitors are global for each keyword, regardless of the
industry.
You have to start with a baseline report of your current
standings so you can measure your progress. Optimization
to maintain high rankings is not a 'one time only' thing,
it's an ongoing process of monitoring and tweaking, and is
dictated by the web itself where content, sites and search
engines are constantly changing. Write down a few keyword
phrases that you think will bring targeted traffic to your
site and make sure you optimize a page for each keyword
phrase. Do it right for each key phrase and watch your
rankings rise.
The plain facts are:
You have to make changes. If you don't change
your code and text in your pages (or pay someone to do it
for you), your ranking will not
change. You must make changes if you expect your
results to change. "If you keep doing what you've been
doing, you're going to keep getting what you've been
getting." If the search engines are not crawling your
site, it's because you haven't made it easy for them to
find what they are looking for. Any SEO that tells you
they can get you listed higher without ever making changes
to your code or pages, is probably going to eventually get
you penalized or banned from using unethical tactics over
time. SEO firms can't do anything to consistently raise your ranking
without your cooperation, and how good your results will
be is dependent on your willingness to make changes and
implement the advice that is given you. A good SEO will
charge more to re-write your pages for higher rankings for
you. That's the price difference between standard
(reporting and consultation so you make the changes) and
premium (complete code editing, formatting, creating
additional optimized pages and copy writing changes). If you don't feel
comfortable editing your pages or creating new ones, hire
an SEO copy writer who knows
how. Some SEO's may be able to legitimately raise your
rankings temporarily, but not for long without your
cooperation. If you don't make regular changes and monitor
them or pay someone to do it for you, your overall results will
not be consistent.
You must analyze your traffic. You cannot
measure the success of an SEO campaign without stats.
If you do not have access to your traffic statistics, how
do you know which search engine is bringing you more
traffic? How do you know which pages to tweak for higher
results? How do you know if your high rankings are
bringing you traffic that converts into sales or if your
other marketing campaigns are bringing the traffic? The bottom
line is, you don't. SEO firms can analyze your
stats and tell you exactly where your search engine
traffic is coming from and what keyword phrases people are
using to get to your site.
If you are still serious about doing your own SEO, be
prepared to spend several hours each week on it, and at
least download the free 30 day trial of
WebPosition
Gold 3, run your own baseline report and follow the
advice given in the program. Search engine optimizers use
many different programs to run reports and make analysis
of your site, but this one program is a good start for
do-it-yourselfers because it teaches you the terminology
and basics of SEO with an up-to-date search engine criteria
database. Follow the advice and you could truly see your
site traffic nearly double within weeks. You will be
surprised at how making just a few changes to your pages
can dramatically increase your rankings and traffic. You
have nothing to lose by doing it yourself.
|
Template Support
| FAQ
|
Contact