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.
o Include a call to action above the fold
o Contact information above the fold in straight html including area code and zip code.
o Only use Flash in small elements and not as the whole page.
o 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.
About The Author
Tracy Fredrychowski – SEO Instructor
http://www.searchengineacademysc.com
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