11 replies to this topic

[whitsey01]

I've been doing a lot of reading through these forums and on many other SEO related websites and the amount of information is quite astounding.  I find that every article I read I find something else that contributes to your site ranking.  There is so much information that I don't know wher eto start or what to focus on - title tags, link structure, content...

I thought I would ask this forum their thoughts on what you consider to be the most important 5-10 things an aspiring optimiser should do to his site?  What would you consider mandatory, an absolute must do if you had to limit it to 5-10 things?

[glyn]

The only advice I have is to start doing SEO and watch your results. Write it down, make a change, review and start again. There is a gaping void between what people write in forums and what actually works in practice for a number of reasons....if someone had the magic formula and posted it, who would be in position 1?

Get a little black book and keep it secret as to what works and what doesn't. I've used the same methodology for the past eight years, and sorry to say that apart from the obvious changes in the advertising marketplace and the "advances in the technology and the clever clever algorhythms!" it works in just the same way as it always did.

Also if you get a client, make them honour an agreement not to speak of the service you are providing (even go as far as an NDA) and to reuse any specialist codes you might be using as part of that strategy to work that magic.

Finally, don't interpret the guidelines issued by Search Engines as the law of the land, and don't mix advertising methodologies (PPC and Organic) together, do separate sites.

For at least 6-months don't spend more than 1 hour a day on the SEO forums. Reduce the information overload and think objectively about how SE's work and how to exploit them.

Welcome!!
Glyn

[EGOL]

In my opinion, content creation is a full time job. SEO is five minutes at the start and five minutes at the end.

1) do Keyword research and find out what terms you want to be visible for
2) write the article targeting those terms
3) place article on your website, making it attractive and easy to locate, with proper file name, title tag, heading tags and words in content body
4) link to the article from other locations on your site

That is the basics. If you need links then a linkbuilding plan would be done.

Edited by EGOL, 28 July 2008 - 08:56 AM.

[Jordban]

I've read so many times content is king. With that little bit of knowledge in mind I'd have to agree with EGOL.

Another suggestion is to take that article you wrote, find high ranking articles sites that allow a link for the author (without a no-follow) and submit the article there. That way you can get high RP and on topic back links.

Does anyone advice against said suggestion? (Not trying to steal this thread)

[SEOigloo]

I second Egol's list.

Jordban - If I give someone my content, it's because they've got an audience I want to capture and bring to my website. This works well. Otherwise, I prefer to keep my own content.

Do article submission sites 'work'? If links are no-followed, then, yes, they can help with rankings, and if the articles rank well, that can help drive traffic to you via your linked profile.

A good example, and a timely one, might be Google's Knol. While links are no-followed, articles might be written in such a way that the reader clicks through on that link to get more of your good information, thus boosting your traffic, if not your rankings.

As an Internet user, however, I've learned to avoid many article sites. I see their domain and don't click on the link because my experience has been that the writing is shallow and poor.

Organizing information into encyclopedic form is, in itself, a great idea, but the whole links thing has resulted in the creation of a number of very low quality 'encyclopedias' that serve as little more than a shelf to set Adsense on.

That being said, I do have colleagues who have had positive experiences with submitting articles.
Miriam

[phaithful]

My 2 cents:

• Information Architecture: Develop a hierarchy for your information that is logical and easy to follow.
• Accessibility: Be descriptive and follow accessibility guidelines. If a visually impaired person can understand you, than a search engine can too
• Get to know your neighborhood: Research your niche / industry and make friends with your neighbors, the bigger their house (site) and better their reputation, the more valuable a link from them will be.
• Analytics: Understanding if your SEO is bearing fruit will be evident in your analytics. If you're doing something right, rinse and repeat.

[hitechsol]

I would prefer content writing at the stage you are at. As mentioned by EGOL, content writing is a full time job, you need to start writing good content for your chosen site, do some basic SEO at the begining and the end of the change in your content and then watch progress.

Keep up with the work and you will get to the top man!

[fisicx]

Just write your content then add a header then your page title and summarize it in your description. Make sure the links to the page are relevant to the target page and that's about it.

There are additional things like the site and page structures, the URL and alt text but these really are minor.

[marketraise seo]

You need to present your conclusion at the start of the article, and then sustaining details on stages. So that user can understand the whole story what you have to say after reading few sentences. Writing for the different issue will give more flexibility to your writing.

[Thejspot]

I think it also helps to remember what the search engines are designed to replicate... They're like millions of people reviewing millions of sites and when you ask them what the best site is for a word, they say, "these ones appear to be what you're looking for".

Now what would stand out for someone reviewing what a website is about?

The domain name
The page title
If the words you're looking for appear on the page (and similies of that word)
Is the word made to stand out in headings? or bolded?
And on and on...

The tricky part of SEO isn't getting a site ranking. You can do that by reading forums like this and the other ones out there, it's getting it ranking for the right words, having a smart marketing strategy in place, it's what you do onsite once you have that traffic, how well you get them to convert.

As much time as you spend chasing rankings you should double that and spend it on making your site a damn good experience with strong marketing copy and a good call to action.

[saschaeh]

Can I add in as a top 10 practice: Patience & Perseverance

Nothing will happen overnight and since a large part of it is trial and error when first learning SEO you can move forward in a sloth like fashion.

When you are getting traffic for a long tail or something unexpected let it motivate you and then start looking to improve and targeting more specificly.

[stan_valchev]

These are my favorite 11 ways to promote any website:

1. Post newsgroups
2. Press releases
3. Email to VIPs
4. Article submission
5. Reciprocal Links
6. Forum Posting
7. Directory submission
8. Tell everyone with whom you communicate
9. Post adds to free advertising website
10. Blogging
11. PPC (pay per click)