Search Engine Academy of South Carolina

 Let’s set the stage…

You’ve just invested valuable time and money by completing your hands-on SEO Training.  You are now sitting back in your office contemplating all the wonderful information you just gathered, but you’re really confused on where to start.  You pick up your notes leafing through them hoping something will inspire you to know what to do next.  You start to drift back to class wishing you where still there.  You hated to leave, you didn’t want it to end, you silently wish your instructor was there telling you where to begin.  

Good news!  I am going to share with you a detailed search engine optimization and internet marketing plan to get the most out of your seo training and to get you started today.

Step #1 – Setting Goals

Before you can really get started you have to know what you want to achieve with your Web site. There could be a number of goals that you have in mind but your first step is get a clear picture of what you want the outcome to be.  It could be:

• To gain higher rankings.
• To redesign your Web site to be more user friendly.
• To implement SEO basics throughout your site to make it search engine friendly.
• To increase your visitor response online.
• To open additional windows to your site through social media marketing.
• To launch an article marketing plan.
• Or all of the above.

What ever your goal is it is important to write it down and post it where you can see it every day.  “Goals that are not written down are just wishes.”

Step #2 – Keyword Research

Any new project should always include this step.  Keyword research is the basis for any successful page on your site.  Let’s take the goals above and see how the keyword research you learned to perform in your seo training can be used.

• Higher rankings can be achieved by finding those keywords in your industry that have a high KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index) and low competing pages.  You should concentrate on finding five phrases that you can work on simultaneously.
• By redesigning your Web site you can be including your new found phrases and work them into your sales copy. If you are creating a new site this is the ideal time to make sure you are concentrating on your visitors experience while on your site.  
  •  
    • Include a call to action above the fold
    • Contact information above the fold in straight html including area code and zip code.
    • Only use Flash in small elements and not as the whole page.
    • Include something that will grab your user’s attention. Something out of the normal that will make your visitor stop and take notice of your page.
• Implementing SEO basics can be a daunting task if your site is large or it is many years old. Tactics that where used years ago are no longer useful and most times are being flagged as spam. Depending on how many elements need to be addressed you need to determine if it would be better to start with a fresh page or redo the existing page.  A determining factor would be if the current page is already indexed.  If this is the case then it would be best to fix the existing page.  If the page has too many errors and creating a new one would be wiser be sure to name the new page the same as the old one or do a 301 redirect to the new page.  Include your keyword phrase when implementing your basic search engine optimization.
• Visitor response will increase if you are giving your visitors exactly what they are looking for. Only your keyword research will help you with this.  We are in an instant gratification world and your visitor will only give you a few seconds to answer their search, so make sure it exactly what they are looking for.
• Open additional windows into your site by using your keyword phrases in your social media avenues.  A couple great places to include your keyword researched phrases would be in your blog post and creating a lens in Squidoo around your researched phrase.
• Article marketing is not for everyone but it does allow you to open multiple windows into your site but writing articles around your phrase and submitting them to places like Scribd, ArtcileFactory.com and EzineArticles.com.

Step - # 3 – Which one to choose?

I know you want to implement each and everyone of those goals into your site and you still don’t know where to start.  

Stop here and go find five phrases to work with and don’t even think about anything else at this point.  

After you find those phrases refer back to your SEO training notes and refresh your memory on how to create a search engine friendly Web page and create content for each of the new keywords you found. It is going to be hard not to get side tracked but stick to the project at hand. Your only concern is finding 5 phrases, creating content and designing five search engine friendly pages.

Once that is done go ahead and publish the five pages to your Web site.  Include each page on your site map, link it from and to relevant pages on your site and include keyword rich link text within the body of the page.  Make a note of the day you added the new pages to your site for later use. Now that you have the first three steps under your belt you are ready to move onto step four.

Step #4 – Addressing Existing Web Site Issues

Now that you have gotten a good start with the above steps, you can start working on bringing your current Web site up to par while you are actually waiting for indexing on your 5 optimized pages. 

Your next plan of attack would be working on existing pages within your site.  You may not be able to change every issue with your site but remember every small change could result in increased ranking for your site.  You may only be able to change your title and Meta tags and not be able to change your corporate sites navigation so tackle what you can and don’t worry about the rest.  Each and every issue is just one of the over 200 factors so learn to pick your battles and fix what you can.

Step #5 – Social Media and Article Marketing

Your whole goal is to open as many windows into your site as possible.  You have already started this by creating 5 new pages into your site now it is time to open the windows even further.  Whether you decide to use article marketing or all the endless possibility of social media marketing now is the time to concentrate on one or both of these window opening wonders. You can use the five phrases you found in your first step or you can find 5 new ones but at this stage you are creating content to be used in articles, on blogs or bookmaking pages within the many social media avenues. 

Your title is the most important element when tackling this step.  Make your title keyword rich, compelling and deliver what your title describes in the article or blog post.

If you are not quite ready to dive into social media start at least with adding a blog to your Web site.  Your best results will come from the blog residing on your server and not one that is hosted on a free blogging site. Make a commitment to blogging regularly and always about your industry so your site and your blog are industry related.

Step #6 – Tracking Your Progress

Web analytics can show you information about all of your optimization projects.  Not only will it show you your results for the 5 keyword phrases you are working on but it will open your eyes to how your visitor is moving through your site.  Record your results on a weekly or daily basis.  This step will help you in testing each one of your projects and help you decide which one you should concentrate more on. 

Usually I find 2 or 3 phrases that are really performing and those are the ones I concentrate on blogging and adding it to the social media venues.

Step #7 – Keep Up With the Changes

There is no other step as important as this one.  The internet changes its landscape on a daily basis so it is imperative that what you learn in your SEO Training is always the latest information.  Your Web site and or clients are depending on your expertise so don’t let them down by applying out of date or useless techniques. 

There are many places you can turn to for guidance.  The first place would be Google, Yahoo! and MSN’s Webmasters guidelines.  Each is posted on their site and is updates each and every time they have made changes to them.

Another place would be to subscribe to one of many search engine optimization and marketing blogs created by industry leaders. Your instructor should be able to point you in the right direction to their most trusted resources.

Continue learning by attending your favorite SEO Training provider’s courses on a yearly basis.  Principles and techniques change often so always keep on top them.

Often students are overwhelmed with the amount of information they are given at class but if you learn to take them in small steps starting with setting your goals you will find that your seo training is working for you and your Web site

To learn about SEO Training or how you can become SEO Certified please visit our Web site at http://www.searchengineacademysc.com

Marketing your services online or offline can be a daunting task and one that never ends and building your opt in list can be even more challenging. In today’s marketplace every business competes with thousands of other companies and sometimes it all comes down to how well you market your services that count. I have spent a better part of the last 6 weeks concentrating solely building my opt-in subscriber list.

Building my subscriber list is a valuable marketing tool for me and I give a lot of value to my subscribers that sign up to receive our FREE SEO Tips of the Day. They are readers that are truly interested in what I have to say and I am excited to share my knowledge about search engine optimization and internet marketing with them on a daily basis.

Let me share with you my 10 marketing approaches that helped double my subscriber list in six weeks.

1. Make blog posts that entice readers  to learn more. Add a call to action at the end of all your post…in our
    case it was to sign up for our FREE SEO Tips.

2. Answered questions on Yahoo!  Answers. Set up an account with Yahoo Answers and frequently sign into your related subject area and share some of your knowledge by answering  questions in your field. Invite your reader to signup for your newsletter to  learn more about your subject.

3. Set up a Google Alerts for some  of your keyword phrases so when any one blogs about your subject you will be notified via email. Comment on the Blogs that you feel you can contribute to  and it will send new traffic to your site.

4. Answer emails from authorative sites. Often authorative Web sites will send emails out looking for  information from its subscribers in exchange for free listings or  advertising in their publications. Take a few extra minutes to read what  they have to say …who knows it may just land you a free listing in their  newsletter or magazine.

5. Submit articles to Industry related  newsletters. Most publishers are always on the look out for new articles  to publish in their publications.

6. Look in your own backyard for  publications you can submit your articles to. Chambers of Commerce’s are a good place to start. They are always looking for material to help their  members and if you have an article that could be of interest they often will  include it in their publications sending you new traffic and most times for free.

7. Hold free mini seminars or  workshops to answer questions in your field of expertise in exchange for  sign ups to your subscriber list.

8. Participate in business expos  and offer a chance for a give away in exchange for a signup to your subscriber list.

9. Hand out business cards that  have your subscriber information on the back.

10. Include your signup in your signature line of your emails.

Can you use any of the tips to build your list? Try to think of ways that are completely different than what your competitors are doing and you too may well be on your way to doubling your subscriber list in as little as 6 weeks.And by all mean if you are not already a subscriber to our FREE SEO Tips of the Day please sign up here: 
http://www.searchengineacademysc.com/seo-tip.htm

In my weekly reads the other day I came across an interesting post from Ash Nallawalla’s Blog that caught my eye and I just had to read it.  SEO Certification - What Is Your View? 

There has been a long debate on just how valuable SEO Certification is throughout the industry and many varying opinions have been voiced on the topic for years. 

Many don’t realize it yet but the value of SEO Certification will become more valuable in the years to come.  Companies are starting to realize that it takes more then putting up a pretty Web site to be successful online.  Those that are counting on on-line sales or on-line visibility are learning fast that the Internet is a big marketing venue that has to be taken seriously.

Companies are now looking to hire in-house SEO’s to address the immediate need to market on-line.  Ash made an interesting point in his blog post; “I don’t think employers are silly enough to look only at a certification. Last place I worked in (hiring SEOs) placed no significance on the presence or absence of a degree. It all went on the way they answered the questions and their experience. And there will be some employers - perhaps government agencies who will look for the piece of paper before making a shortlist.” 

In interviews much of the time a degree does not always hold all the value but it is that degree that gives them the information needed to answer the questions properly during the hiring process.

Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing changes landscape everyday.  Most companies that offer SEO Certification Workshops spend countless hours in research and testing before adding anything to their curriculum.  These companies most times have educators that are Industry leaders and have been offering SEO Services to their clients for years.

Being a true SEO is more than a 3 or 5 day certification workshop it comes from many years of experience dealing with the search engine and building a portfolio to fully understand what it takes to be successful online.  However SEO Certification is a good beginning baseline. SEO Workshops sort out the good information from the bad and provides the student a better understanding of the Industry.

For anyone that is thinking about becoming SEO Certified here are 5 tips to finding value in Certification.

1. Education – Laying the foundation to a career as a Professional SEO is the same as any other job skill.  Finding an institution or training facility that holds true credibility in the industry is half the battle. There are many different organizations that offer training in search engine optimization and the job is to find a program that is backed by a good solid reputation of industry standards.

a. Is the program backed by any education institutions?
b. Are the instructors experts themselves?
c. Is the material updated consistently with industry changes?

2. Job Opportunities – At the time of this article there where over 12 pages of companies looking to hire SEO Consultants and Internet Marketers on CareerBuilder.com. Most of these companies where looking for individuals who understood search engine optimization and marketing and could implement the latest techniques and strategies into an existing web site.

3. Understand the Art & Science of SEO – There is definitely a difference between the art and science of SEO.  Anyone can logically teach the science (title tags, body text, link text etc.)  but very few SEO  Workshops are teaching the art.  Find a SEO Class that is addressing both sides and become well versed in all aspects of Internet Marketing.

4. Results over Certification – Even though a certificate that hangs on a wall will give someone the knowledge and confidence they need to perform internet marketing services it is in no comparison to the actual result they can share with someone. Customers like to see proof. They want to see true ranking results. Build a solid portfolio.

5. Re-Certification – The Internet world changes on a daily bases. What may have worked this year may not be the same techniques that will work next year. There are strategies that some SEO’s may have put in place that are now considered spam so it is vital that a certificate be kept current. Check training providers and be certain that they keep advised on any changes that may take place during the year. Ask if they offer re-certification or additional training modules to keep skills up to date. Nothing looks worse and is detrimental to an image then advertising an out of date certificate.

In conclusion only the student can find the true value of a SEO Certification. It all depends on how much time and energy one would want to put into becoming a successful SEO or how much time they give to gaining confidence in their skills as an optimizer.

The Industry is changing and there will come a point where the value of a SEO Certification will mean something.   In the mean time it is imperative that those seeking a professional standard for search engine optimization and internet marketing do their research first. 

Would you like to receive a FREE SEO Tip everyday?  If so sign up today and start receiving your FREE SEO Tips tomorrow!

http://www.searchengineacademysc.com/seo-tip.htm

I have been getting a lot of questions lately about how I process keyword research using Wordtracker.  So I thought I would take a few minutes this morning and detail out step by step exactly how I work through a session of keyword research.

As many of you already know the success of any good optimization plan starts with the research of keywords.  Normally you want to find words or word clusters that will open additional windows into your site while giving your potential visitors exactly what they’re looking for.

Many Web site owners have the mind set that they should only optimize their Web site for the most popular keywords.  Unfortunately this means that they are competing with millions of other sites competing for the same keywords.  Those most common keywords are not the phrases that will bring qualified visitors to your site.  Most times these popular keywords are to general and the competition is way too high.

Let me walk you through the steps of how I approach research when it comes to finding those valuable keywords.

First I think of the most common root word that I know for a fact is going to have a very high number of competing pages.

My session of choice in WT is Keyword Researcher I would much rather know what keywords people are searching on rather than using Keyword Universe where it shows me how keywords are being used on the top 200 Web sites.
 
For example purposes lets’ work on a Web site about “bass fishing.”

The most common and popular root keywords I would start with would be “bass fishing.” Normally I like to start with just one root word but in this case the 2 word phrase bass fishing is more detailed then just fishing so I am starting there. 

I only want my responses to be related to that type of fishing “bass.” In this step I am just looking for a keyword cluster that would have something to do with the overall purpose of my site.  Also at this point I am not concerned with KEI or competing pages I am only looking for a keyword phrase that pertains to my site.

Just so I know what I am up against I make a note of the competition for the most common keywords “bass fishing.”

Just as I suspected those are pretty high numbers to work with and even the most seasoned Professional SEO would not try to compete with that.  Competing pages of 6,530,000 and a KEI of only 0.01. 

As I look through my responses I see these ones:

I found a couple to work through not great numbers but I know our site lists the top bass fishing tournaments around the country including the FLW Series and we also review fishing lures so I write these two phrases down so I can work through them.

Next I would search separately on each of the words above: flw - bass – fishing –handmade – jigs and tournament to see what I come up with.

The first word “flw” did not come up with anything I could use so I moved on to the next.

I try really hard to not get side tracked, you can spend hours in WT and not get anything accomplished so stick to one 3 or 4 keyword phrase at a time and pick that one apart before going on to the next.

As I predicted the words bass and fishing both are too general and are not giving me anything I can use but I don’t give up I still move on and explore each word of the phrase clusters I came up with in the beginning.

My next word was “handmade” which I know from experience I should try both “handmade” as one word and then separate it into two words “hand made.”  It usually gives us completely different results and it did as well this time.

Not wonderful numbers but with 23 people searching on it I know I can optimize a page on our site for hand made fish hooks and actually give our visitors some resources for companies that produce hand made fishing hooks.

Lets’ keep going with our next word which is “jigs.”  Just as before I want to try the word as “jigs” and “jig” it will always give us different results.

Now we are getting somewhere the word “jig” gave us this great result:

I know I can work this type of bass fishing lures into a separate optimized page of our site. But we are not finished yet lets’ look at our last word “tournament” and the plural form “tournaments.”

As you can see above I found a couple different phrases I can work in our site.  I see by my research people are looking for information on tournaments by state.  This could open multiple windows into our site by posting tournament information individually on each state and optimizing each page for that states bass tournaments.  Interesting …something I would not have normally thought of came about by doing a little keyword research.   

Remember don’t get side tracked work on one 3 or 4 word cluster at a time and research each word separately remembering to try variations of the word singular and plural or as one word such as handmade was or separate them into two hand made.

This is how I work through each session of keyword research. The whole process should not take you more than an hour and most times you come up with some great possibilities.

To recap:

1.      Start with your most common root word

2.      Find a couple 3 or 4 words clusters you can pick apart that pertain to your site even if they do not have great numbers

3.      Research each word separately trying both singular and plurals

4.      Remember not to get side tracked stick to one phrase at a time

5.      Be open to discovering new windows into your site

6.      And lastly go optimize the new phrase on your site

If you enjoyed these tips on how to work through a keyword research project you may also enjoy our FREE SEO Tips of the day.  Everyday bright and early in the morning you will receive a tip in your email.  Most of the tips are ones you can apply to your Web site the same day.

Don’t miss out sign up today and start receiving your FREE SEO Tips tomorrow!

http://www.searchengineacademysc.com/seo-tip.htm

If you are not already a subscriber to the Wordtracker program, check it out you may find it is one of the most important tools in your SEO tool box.  WORDTRACKER 

Google has a produced a nice run down of some common questions about Google Sitemaps. It’s a very lengthy post but an important one and as such I’ve done a redux of the key points to understand.

• Sitemaps help Google discover all pages on your site, but does not guarantee crawling or indexing
• Sitemaps help Google discover information about your pages; when they were updated and their relative importance
• Sitemaps do not influence rankings, but can increase Google’s awareness of pages which can lead to increased presence and visibility in the index.
• Setting the “priority” of all pages to “1.0″ does not impact the ranking of pages, nor does the placement of URLs in a sitemap
• Penalties occuring after a sitemap submission are purely coincidental
• Sitemaps can be located anywhere as long as the site where the sitemap is located and the site whose URL are referenced are verifed in Webmaster Central
• Sitemaps need to be developed in the supported formats (syndication feeds, e.g. RSS or Atom, and Text files using the Sitemap protocol) and not in HTML. Google recommends the XML sitemap protocol
• Sitemaps can be used to indicate preferred URL for pages which contain the same content.

Let’s say you have done your keyword research…you have written the content for your new page…you have even gone as far as making sure it is optimized and ready for the search engines to find and index your page and now you are just waiting for results. Let me share with you how you can take the game into your own hands and help it along a bit. 

After you have completed the few things we listed above here are your next steps for success with that new content. 

 1.      Link the new page on your site map.  Make the robots job easier and tell them exactly where they can find the new page.

2.      Link the new page from your home page within the actual text on your home page.  Most engines will crawl your home page first so make it easy to find.

3.      Introduce the new content in a snippet on your Blog or on another related topics page within your site.  Your blog would work best but if you still have not added a blog to your site another popular page that has similar content on it will work as well.  Point the keyword rich link text back to the new page on your site for the best results.

Try to keep this formula in mind every time you write new content for your site and soon the search engines will enjoy coming to your site. 

I know I have been saying it over and over again and I am sure you are sick of hearing it but I have found a great easy way you can start dabbling in Social Media Marketing.

Each one of us has our own industry related topic that we know tons about.  For me of course it is search engine optimization and marketing for you it may be what every your passionate about or what your Web site is about. Whatever it is I am going to share with you a great way you can start getting your Web site in the midst of SSM.

The first thing is you need to sign up for a Yahoo! account so you can log into Yahoo! Answers. 

Start here: http://answers.yahoo.com/

Make sure you list your Web site in your profile so you can get some traffic from your answers. Once you have an account all signed up log into the area that your interest may be in.  Look on the left hand side of the screen to dig down into your topic as far as you can.

Next spend just a few minutes a day or a couple times a week and browse through the questions that have been asked.  Find questions that you may be able to direct someone for more information on your Web site and make sure you give them the link in your answer or questions that you have a real knowledge.

Answering questions in your special topic will give you the creditability of being an expert in your field.  Automatically you’re building trust in your product or service along with sending traffic to your Web sites. 

If you utilize a copyright notice on your Web site don’t forget to update it this month.  The search engines like to see the current year on your notices so double check all your Web sites and make sure you have 2008 listed.

Let’s do a quick review of a  robots.txt file. Basically it is a protocol for spiders to immediately find instructions on what they can and cannot have access to on your site. If you don’t want spiders indexing your images, just disallow them. If you’d prefer not to have certain areas of your site indexed and available for the searching public – go ahead and restrict access by using a robots.txt file.

There is nothing difficult about creating a basic robots.txt file. It can be created using notepad or whatever is your favorite text editor. Each entry has just two lines:

User-Agent: [Spider or Bot name]
Disallow: [Directory or File Name]

This line can be repeated for each directory or file you want to exclude, or for each spider or bot you want to exclude.

Googlebot, MSNbot and Slurp (Yahoo!) all look for the robots.txt file on your site so why not give them what they are looking for and index only those pages you want to share with the engines.

Do you have PPC Ads that you are targeting for on-line sales?  If so did you know that the business days for holiday shopping are Monday’s and Tuesday’s between Noon and 4:00 PM. The peak on-line shopping day tends to be the second Monday before Christmas and this year that day falls on December 10th. Use your ad scheduling feature in Google Ad Words to automatically adjust your bids on those busiest days and times of the week.