1. WRITING FOR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS
Search Engines aren’t going to sign up for an e-mail list, and they aren’t going to buy your products and services. However, they can bring a great deal of traffic to your posts.

When someone writes for search engines, they predetermine their keywords, analyze their keyword density, and write out phrases exactly as they’d be searched for. These posts will have a great formula to rank well, but rarely will humans find them valuable enough to give backlinks or shares. They tend to be textbooky and (yawn) boorrrring.

2. WRITING FOR HUMAN CONVERSIONS
Knowing that humans will be reading these posts, some bloggers will structure their content around linking to services, encouraging e-mail list sign ups, and pushing their calls-to-action.

These come across very dry and informational. Kinda like sales letters. How many times do you jump for joy when reading a sales letter? That’s if you even stick around long enough to read the whole thing!

3. WRITING FOR HUMAN INTEREST
I see this one usually from the small business owner who writes well, but knows nothing about internet marketing. They’ll set up their posts with great care and structure their content like it’s going to be judged for a Pulitzer. However, if Search Engines don’t rank it well no one’s going to find it, and if you aren’t motivating your readers to action all you get out of it is maybe an appreciative reader.

Depending on your business and the kind of blogging you’re doing, especially copy writers and creatives, that may be acceptable and even viable, but for most businesses it’s mostly a waste of a good opportunity.

PUTTING TOGETHER THE PERFECT BLOG
Now that we know the Big Three, how can we pull them all together so they rank well, convert, and aren’t as boring as listening to your great uncle ramble on about the good ole days?

First, think what would your audience find interesting. Before what keywords you want to rank for, think about the human interest factor. What’s interesting to my readers? Now, think about how you can point that interest to how you stay in business (aka “sell stuff”). Finally, when you’re writing think about keywords, then go back and re-read the post and change a few words and phrases to contain the keywords and keyword phrases you want to rank for.

Thinking of human interest first and human conversions a close second, you’re taking a more effective (and opposite) approach than most do. You can always read through your post title and content and add in a search engine keyword phrase throughout your content (like I just did right there), but it won’t be as dry and boring as a grade school textbook.

So think about how to write great content with your own unique voice, but also how are you going to drive readers to contact you, and what keywords you will be targeting in your content. Happy Writing!

Congratulations! You have a small business and you’re either just starting out, or you know you need some help to move to another level. You’re seeking out some advice and ideas. This is the first step to getting to that next level. You’re already ahead of the thousands of other Small Businesses which feel that “figuring it out” is the best course of action. This is why you’ll still be in business when they’re packing up the final boxes and wondering what went wrong.

CHOOSING COMPANIES
First bit of advice is when you’re choosing a Small Business marketing company to help you out, whether it’s for a website design, social media marketing, or any help at all, just know that it’s perfectly OK to judge a book by it’s cover. When you go to a company’s website and it looks horrid, their work is not aesthetically pleasing, or they won’t get specific with you on process or price, then it’s OK to feel that they won’t be able to help you achieve your goals. Many so-called “professionals” (so-called by themselves and no one else) and companies are just looking for as many clients and/or as much money as they can get. They don’t approach projects from that very important “win win” mindset. At Circle Marketing, for example, we don’t have “clients we close”…we have “partnerships we open.” This is because we want to be there for our clients every step of the way, and our very affordable packages and pricing are set up to measure your goals over the course of time and provide you with a very specific road map on how to do so.

Now on to the freebie advice! Yay!

YOUR WEBSITE AS A MARKETING TOOL
First thing first, you’ll need a new site in most cases. You should most likely have a CMS (Content Management System) site, which is focused on getting leads and selling your products and services. You’ll most likely want a blog, and might possibly even need forums, ad placement, or a number of other requirements, depending on your business. Your website is something you own and you control, and you won’t be effected by fads or trends. You want your website to be the main hub of content, information, and traffic for your business. If you’re getting more traffic on your Facebook page instead of your website, then your website isn’t being run properly. Everything you do in marketing should lead your customers and potential customers back to your website. There, you should be focused on capturing leads and increasing sales.

Your website should also be designed and developed with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind. This will help you rank higher on search engines for the search terms your customers are entering into Google, Bing and others to find your business. When you combine the idea that your website should look professional, is optimized for Search Engines, and you are focused on leads and conversions, then your site will be unstoppable and you should see your business increase just from a better website alone.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Next, you’ll have to figure out how you want to use Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Know that each social network has a different vibe, customer mindset and way of posting. Start on Facebook by creating a business/brand page, and asking people to connect with you there. Create some highly targeted Facebook Ads and publish only the best and most interesting and most helpful content which originates from your website. This way, you can pull your Facebook followers back to your main marketing hub, which is your website, and get more business. Facebook is an attraction tool, a publicity tool, and a customer relationship tool. Rarely is Facebook a direct sales tool.

Now on to Google Plus. At the time I’m writing this, Google Plus is rewarding their users with extra SEO muscle. So, get on Google Plus, create a brand page, and tie that in to your Google Places/Google Local page. Oh, you don’t have a Google Places page? Well, if you’re a brick-and-mortar business (i.e. you have a physical location where customers can go to) then you must have your business page on Google Places (aka Google Local). Connect the two pages together so you can post all your blogs, news, etc on one page, and have that one page be able to accept user reviews and be found easier when people are doing local searches on Google.

Bonus Tip: Also set up a Bing Local account as well, because Facebook and many others are starting to tie in to Bing and it’s popularity is rising. And…it’ll help you cover your bases.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
You’re going to get list on the top of Google’s and Bing’s search results two ways. The first way is you’re going to have to buy ads. The second way is by having some high-quality, long-lasted, completely 100% by-the-book Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Why mention “by the book?” Well, because there are way too many individuals and companies out there who know SEO takes a while and is never guaranteed, so they try to get a company on a long-term contract which the client can’t get out of. The best SEO strategies involve a lot of work, a little bit of money to pay a service or company to do that work, and also a lot of knowledge. Search Engines change their algorithms constantly to keep providing their users with the most relevant search results to their queries.

The basic idea of SEO is it’s like a referral system. Think of Google/Bing as your elite 5-Star hotel concierge. They know everything about whatever you want to know, and they’ll help you find whatever you’re looking for and give you the best advice and answers to your questions. These are modern day search engines. How do they know? They look at a great number of statistics, but the simplest way to explain it is that the more higher profile websites which are linking to your site and mentioning your site as an expert in your field, then the higher you will rank in the search results.

Hire an expert with proven results, no long-term contracts, and stay on them with charts and reports to make sure you’re seeing results…or move on to someone with a better reputation and better results.

Bonus Tips:
1. Get an Email Marketing and Email List provider like MailChimp or Constant Contact so you can regularly and easily communicate with your customers and leads.
2. Explore what other Social Networks might also be right for your particular business to use in your marketing. Examples: Pinterest is great for e-commerce, LinkedIn is great for B2B, Facebook is not so great for B2B and much better for B2C, and Google Plus is great for SEO (as of right now, which will probably change as Google keeps changing their search algorithms).
3. Buy some Ads on Google Adwords and Bing Ads. Until your SEO kicks in, you’re going to need visibility. To get great visibility quickly, you’re going to have to buy it. However, that’s why we’re suggesting SEO, so you won’t have to buy is for long!

With these tips, you’ll be able to hit the ground running and start going in the right direction. Give us a Call or E-Mail and mention that you saw this blog for a detailed and customized Free Consultation. We’ll help you figure out specifics for your particular business and target market, and we’ll help get you going in the right direction!

We all want to rule Google and Bing, right? We all want to be in the Top 3 results for all of our desired KeyWords, right? Well, in order to do that, you’re going to know some essential basics about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This post will give you a mile-high overview of SEO, and get you moving in the right direction. Think of this as a Top 10 Best Practices for how to begin to get those search engine rankings you (and all of your competitors) desire.

1. Write Great Content

If your pages contain great, relevant, useful content, search engines will be more likely to rank you higher for what you’re writing about. Visitors like fresh content, so they will visit your site more often. Content written both for search engine keywords and for humans to find interesting, then you’re going in the right direction.

2. Do Your Keyword Research

A KeyWord is basically anything you type into a search field on a search engine. Whether it’s literally just one word, or a string of words (KeyWord Phrase), it’s technically all still a “KeyWord.” When you want to rank “first in Google,” you want to rank first for the KeyWord most of your highly-interested targeted users will be using to search for your product and/or service. Don’t target a KeyWord just because it sounds right to you, or because it gets a lot of searches.

You want to target as specific as possible for Search Engine Optimization, because you want to be able to rank as high as possible as quickly as possible, and a realistically as possible. A shoe store in Houston will never beat out Zappos, Shoes.com or DSW, for example. However, you may be able to rank a lot easier for “Shoe Store in Houston” or “High Heel Store in Houston” for example.

Use tools such as Wordtracker and the AdWords Keyword Suggestion tool to find relevant niche keywords and estimate traffic based on research and not just guesses.

3. Use Your Keywords Wisely

Once you have a good list of KeyWords, deploy them sensibly throughout your site pages. To rank better for the KeyWords you are targeting, make sure they periodically and regularly appear in throughout the content of your pages. Use the KeyWords in the first and last paragraphs in the content of page. Strategically throughout the page content, but not stuffing throughout. Try the KeyWord Density ratio of about 2-3% of all content will contain the KeyWords you’re looking to rank for. Use KeyWords wisely, don’t stuff them all over the page, and make sure the KeyWords appear in strategic locations throughout your website.

4. Get Other Sites Linking To Yours

Most search engines rank sites higher if they’re linked to by other, well-respected sites. Writing good content is one of the best long-term strategies. The better the content, the more valuable the content, and therefore the more likely it is that another site will want to refer to yours as valuable to their readers and visitors.

A “link to this page” (or “share this”) function on each page of your site makes it easy for others to link to your content. Sharing your pages and posts on Social Networks doesn’t have a direct effect on your rankings, because of the way that the large Social Networks manage their links (search for DoFollow vs NoFollow for full explanation). Whether the site linking to your content directly passes through search ranking help to your site isn’t as important as getting as many links as possible, and spreading your content around to as many different places as possible. You want exposure and traffic. Over time, your rankings will rise the more exposure and traffic you get.

Get in touch with the site owner of the websites which rank in the Top 10 results for your desired KeyWord, and strike up a friendship. Don’t ask for links right away. Just compliment them on their awesomeness and nurture the relationship to eventually be in a possible to ask for a guest blog opportunity, or a link, depending on the situation as to what’s best for both parties.

NOTE: Do not take an article which is already on your website or blog and use that as a guest blog post. That will be seen as duplicate content by search engines and it will not be counted, at best. Yes, it’s more work, but the more original content that’s out there linking back to your site and content, the better rankings you’ll get over time.

5. Structure Your Site For SEO

A site map can really help here, as it lists all your site content on one, easy-to-use page. If you’re using a Content Management System like WordPress, then this is really easy. There are a number of free and pay plugins which can help you generate a Site Map automatically, and even give you links to submit it to Google and Bing to start the process of indexing your site and starting your rise. Make sure your website structure is developed to allow your KeyWords in the following areas of each of your website’s pages:

– The Title Tag
– H1 and H2 Tags
– Anchor Link Text
– Page URL (aka Permalink)
– Image ALT Text

6. Analyze Your Site

– It’s important to track your site’s performance to see if your efforts are paying off. Here are a few ways to use different metrics analysis tools. See which one/s you prefer:

– Google Webmaster Tools
– Google Analytics
– Alexa.com
– Bing Webmaster Tools

Pretty much all of these will give you useful information about how your site is faring in the search results. Obviously Google and Bing are the largest search engines, so sign-up for their Webmaster Tools areas to help get you on their radar in a more efficient manner than just waiting around and hoping everything will work itself out.

Also, install Google Analytics on every single page of your website and learn how to use every bit of it. Google is starting to use Analytics metrics more and more to determine relevancy, and knowing everything that’s going on with your site (traffic, referring sites, links, etc) will not only assist you with search engine rankings, but also with ensuring your website is delivering for you.

7. Keep Abreast of the Latest SEO News

Search engine algorithms change constantly. It pays to keep up to date with the latest changes. Subscribe to some of the biggest SEO Newsletters and blogs to keep up with the latest. Here are some sites, blogs, and newsletters which we have found to be helpful:

– SEO Moz
– Search Engine News
– Search Engine Land

8. Avoid Black Hat Techniques

SEO techniques and strategies come in 2 forms:

– White Hat techniques play by the rules of search engines, and aim to create high-quality, relevant content.
– Black Hat techniques try to “game” the search engines by using techniques such as keyword stuffing, back linking from “link farms,” etc.

When working on any search engine optimization strategies, make sure you’re always playing by the rules. Playing by the rules also means not just doing what Google and Bing recommend, but not over doing it, as well. If Google instructs you to do something for better SEO, and you go ahead and do that over and over and over again 50 times on each page, then you can bet that any possible search engine results you receive from that will eventually be removed with future algorithm updates. It’s always best to do what’s recommended, avoid what’s not recommended, and use sensible control when it comes to what’s recommended. If you play by the rules, and don’t over-do it, your rankings will be permanent and fruitful.

9. Watch Out For Duplicate Content

We touched on this above, but it’s important after the recent algorithm updates of the past couple years. Many factors can result in a search engine seeing 2 URL’s as duplicates of each other. Here are just a few of the most common culprits

– Articles and Content republished from other websites
– Print-friendly versions of pages
– Similar product info pages that contain unchanged content
– Displaying your site at multiple domains.

If you copy-paste the same Content from one place to another, the modern search engine will recognize this, and classify you as someone who’s trying to cheat the system. Whether the website which contains the original content, or the newer off-site posting of that content gets the negative hit depends on a few different factors. It’s important to know that when you control the Content distribution to external channels, make sure it’s all original Content everywhere and you’ll be OK.

10. Don’t Forget the Description and KeyWords Tags.

The description tag should be a useful, compelling summary of your page content. Don’t use the same description you use on your home page. Again, if you’re using WordPress for your website, then you can use any number of free or pay SEO plugins.

Most modern search engines don’t use the KeyWords tag like they used to (or at all), because the search engine algorithms are much more advanced to prevent cheating, so this is totally optional. There are some minor search engines which still use the KeyWords tag, so it’s not horrible to have that in your header, but these days is strictly optional.

However, the search engines will display your page when it ranks for what someone is searching for and will use the Description tag first. If there is no description tag, then the search engine will display the first couple lines of text it can read. The first two sentences of your blog post or page content might be a well-written lead-in, but not a very good description for usage on a search engine results page. Therefore, use a unique and well-written description for each page and you’ll get better click results from search engines when you do rank.

There you go! Yes, there’s a lot of information here, but also a lot of information we couldn’t get to. We do have a full Marketing Course you can sign-up for and learn many many more details and how to actually do all this great stuff, but this should get you started and familiar with the proper strategy for how to start to use the most effective SEO strategies to rank higher and higher in those Search Engine results pages!

1. No Clear Call-To-Action on Web Pages

The first step is what happens when someone comes to your Home Page. This is one of the biggest issues, and creates an incredibly high Bounce Rate (people come to your site and leave immediately without doing anything). High Bounce Rates = Bad Website. Most visitors will leave a site if they become confused or can’t easily find what they are looking for. Let’s fix this.

You’ll need a clear Call-To-Action (CTA) on every page, especially the Home Page. A Call-To-Action is a main element, picture, box, messaging, etc which instructs the visitor what you want them to do above all other options. Whether it’s a slider on the home page, or an email sign-up form, or your blog posts, you must have a clear and clean instruction for what you want the visitor to do now that they’re on your website. If you’re selling shoes, then put some pictures for shoes on the home page and a few links and pictures to purchase your shoes. Make it obvious and the main thing that sticks out on the page. It’s preferable to have two Calls-To-Action, but don’t make them both the same size and importance. There should be a main CTA, and a secondary one.

This goes for your interior pages, as well. Nowadays, with blogs and search engines pulling up the most relevant information for any and every search query, not every user will come to your site through your Home Page. This is important to know that you will need a main Call-To-Action on the interior pages as well. Maybe your Blog’s CTA is the blog article itself, but the secondary CTA is your e-mail sign-up form, for example.

2. Website Isn’t Properly Optimized for Search Engine Rankings

In today’s world of Search Engines dominating the world we live in, have a website that’s not properly optimized for maximum Search Engine rankings is a huge mistake. If you can’t be found, then you’ll either have to buy traffic to your website, or you won’t have any traffic at all, because you won’t exist in the eyes of the search world.

For a longer list of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips & Tricks, please read our article on that subject, but here’s a quick over view so you know what you’re looking for. You want to make sure you know which KeyWords you want to rank for, how much competition there is for those KeyWords, and also place those KeyWords throughout your pages, page titles, web page addresses, and in the ALT Tags of your images. Don’t over-do it. Just follow the best practices guidelines and you’ll be rising in the rankings in no time (if you constantly keep doing it, of course).

Also, make sure that you create an XML Site Map and submit that Site Map to Google and Bing through each of their Web Master Tools Accounts.

3. No Social Media integration

Much like Search Engines, Social Networks are also ubiquitous these days, and offer a great deal of visibility opportunity for your business. It’s very easy to put in a free WordPress plugin (if you’re using WordPress), which will automatically place Social Media sharing buttons at the end of every Blog post on your website. You can also enter in a line of code to allow visitors to Like your Facebook page or Follow you on Twitter without ever leaving your website! This is great functionality, and the combined possibility of allowing sharing and capturing social fans is immensely powerful.

Another great idea is to replace your default commenting area in your blog articles with a 3rd Party platform which can help encourage sharing. For example, Facebook Comments will allow the poster of the comment to allow that comment to be visible on their Facebook Profile and in their News Feed so their friends can see that they’ve commented on your Blog article. This increases the opportunity to connect with others without having to do anything (and for FREE, too).

4. Not Tracking/Analyzing results/progress

If you didn’t know how many visitors were coming to your site, how would you know if you had increased traffic? If you didn’t know where they were coming from, how would you know which off-site efforts were working? If you didn’t know what pages on your website your visitors were viewing, how long they were viewing each page, and which page they left on, then how would you be able to know how well your website is working, what’s working, and where you need improvement? You wouldn’t be able to fix anything.

Good news. Google Analytics does all that…and then some. The best part? It’s way more than most websites will ever need, and it’s all free! Install Google Analytics on every single page of your website, especially your shopping cart and all pages throughout the entire checkout process (if you sell online). Now, you’ll be able to see which pages get the most views, which pages people your site leave on, and even how much money you’re making! It’s truly one of the most helpful tools available on all of the Internet that will help your business.

5. Not Having Strong Lead Generation Element (aka E-Mail List Sign-Up)

When a visitor comes to your website, they are most likely a potential customer. They are on your website looking for something. Imagine you have a brick-and-mortar (aka “real life”) store front, and you could capture most of the personal contact information of everyone who walks in the store. Would that be helpful to you? You better believe it. Yet, many many websites don’t have a clear and inviting way for these visitors to sign-up for your email list. Instead, they make the visitor not only work to find the sign-up form, but don’t convince them that it’s a good move.

Instead of just having a “Sign Up for our Email List” form, incentivize them with giving them something for signing up. This also helps you know what kind of people are signing up for your list. Also, you’re making the sign-up form more obvious. Maybe give away an E-Book when they sign up. Something of value that they would want, and by the nature of your offer you’ll know what the person is looking for, because that offer was valuable enough to them to sign up.

Finally, telling them what they can get from signing up goes a long way to them actually signing up. For example, a travel website with the form reading, “Sign Up for our Weekly Travel Tips and Suggested Destinations” will get way way more sign-ups to their E-Mail List then just the plain, vague and boring request in the above paragraph.

E-Mail is one of the best forms of communication with your customers and potential customers. Reason being is because these days the user has to go through a double-opt-in process. hey fill out the form, and then have to click a link in their e-mail to confirm they want to be on your E-Mail List. The person who goes through that process really is interested in hearing what you have to say and doesn’t mind you telling them about it periodically. So, treat them with the respect they deserve as your best prospects and those who are ready to find out more about your company, products, and services.

There you have it. If you notice that you are making one or two of these mistakes, they are easy fixes. If you notice you are making all of these mistakes, then thank goodness you found out now before it’s too late! We offer a Marketing Course which is done online and will give you all kinds of immensely valuable information like the tips above. If you’re making more than one of these mistakes, you might be making mistakes in other areas of your business, too, which could be inhibiting you from attaining your desired business goals and success. Call us if you have more questions, or just comment below and let us know what you think! As always, thanks for sharing this and for your comments!

Your Keyword Density Ratio would be the ratio of keywords-to-“normal” words in any particular page or post on your website. The lower the density, the less search engines will feel you adequately address the desired topic and search terms. The higher the density, and you could be down-graded or penalize for what is called “keyword stuffing.”

The bad effects of very low Keyword Density, or pretty obvious. If you don’t talk enough about the search terms your potential customers are searching for, then you won’t be helped in your SEO via your on-page content (which is paramount).

“Keyword Stuffing” is just as bad, because the search engines will know that you’re trying to fool them. It’s basically search engine spam. You might remember the older sites from the 90’s which featured, say, a white background, and after you reached the bottom of the page, you could scroll and scroll, but couldn’t see anything, then noticed one day that there were a whole bunch of seemingly random words at the bottom of the page in white type over the white background. This used to be a trick (bad SEO tricks are called “Black Hat Tactics) that website developers used to try to trick the less-advanced search engine algorithms of the day.

These days, search engine algorithms are highly advanced, and will easily recognize more Black Hat tactics and penalize a site’s ranking which uses these “tricks.”

A good rule of thumb for Keywords is around 3-5%. This is arguable, as some suggest keeping it between 1-3% of content, and other suggest going as high as 8%. So, we’ll take the middle road and recommend 3-5% keyword density. What does that look like for our auto mechanic friend? Take a look:

“ABC auto repair in Santa Monica is a family owned and operated domestic auto repair shop which specializes in fixing and maintaining all your domestic vehicle needs. No matter what issues or problems you’re having with your car, whether it’s low idling, or your check engine light suddenly comes on, or even if you just need a quick oil change, just come on in to our Santa Monica shop on Washington Blvd, and we’ll treat you like family! Our domestic auto mechanics are here six days a week to take care of all your repair needs. See you soon!”

That paragraph has a real keyword density of about 3%. You might read that and think “there’s 101 words, but 16 keywords, so isn’t it around 16%?” Good thinking, but when you group search terms together, they count as one instance, not individual words. Example, “Auto Repair” is one search term, so that will factor in the keyword density ratio. Likewise, so will “domestic auto repair” and “santa monica” which is individual search terms, at least in this case, and not three different keywords.

Now, all that being said, does it really truly matter? Only the geniuses who programmed the algorithm of the best search engines like Google will know for sure (even though they’ll tell you even they can’t predict 100% search result accuracy), but the results have suggested that when you keep the suggested keyword density for desired search phrases and keywords at 3-5%, your SEO will be helped out.

One last thing which is important to note. Yes, we’re mathematically trying to achieve an optimal keyword density for top rankings, but notice that the copy still read very well for humans. This is extremely important, because even if you rank number one on all the search engines, but have horrible content/copy which isn’t written for a human to read and be affected by, then you still aren’t going to see much improvement on the bottom line.

To summarize, always research your optimal keywords, and make sure above all else your content is written for humans first and foremost, then tweak the sentences and paragraphs slightly to achieve the optimal keyword density of 3-5%. Then, hope that you have many reputable backlinks pointing to your site for even better results.

Happy content writing! Please enter your thoughts in the comments below, or check out one of our other articles in the list immediately following this article, and as always feel free to contact us or download our free marketing ebook to help you out even more.

Many people have paid hundreds of dollars for webinars like this, but Circle Marketing and Broadcast Louder figured putting together this free 2-hour class would help Small Business owners kick off the new year on the right foot!

Click here to watch the webinar, but get a notepad ready because there’s a TON of information to help your business grow!

For those who want to move at their own pace, and prefer to have PDF’s instead of watch videos, please feel free to download the supplemental ebook by joining our email list below:

Search engines want to make sure that the pages they refer their searchers to is the most relevant result with the most relevant content to the searchers’ inquiries. Here is a quick list of some of the biggest things you can do on your website to improve rankings in addition to the steps which must be taken off-site:

Page Title Names
– These help the search engines know what you page is about

Header Tags
– Different header tags allocate different levels of importance for the content and keywords inside these tags

Keyword content throughout each page
– The more times a searcher’s Keywords appear in your content the better your rankings would be. However, putting too many Keywords will cause your site to lose it’s rankings for “Keyword Stacking.”

PermaLink structure
– Most CMS (WordPress, Drupal, etc) take care of this for you, but make sure the pages on your site aren’t labeled “blog34.html” instead of something like “www.yoursite.com/products/great-keyword-product-here-keyword” (consult your web developer to help you set that one up).

How long your site has been live
– If your site just launches, you will need time to build up a track record of regular relevant content updates.

How many times your site is updated
– If you site is created, then never changes, the search engine spiders will eventually assume that the site is dormant or dead and not rank it as highly as site with daily updates for the same relevant content.

ALT Tags (placed in the code for images on a web page)
– Alternative Tags, or ALT Tags, are short and quick descriptive lines which help provide more information about an image (which search engines can’t see) and links (i.e. what the link represents, where the link takes you, etc).

Accessibility Compatible (coding to help those who are visually-disabled)
– Search Engines and Google especially love site which are coded in accordance to the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines. Consult with your web developer to learn more.

Set up Analytics code on your site.
– Knowing who’s coming to the site, where they are coming from, and what they are doing on your site will help you optimize your site and it’s content to keep generating more and more traffic.

Conduct proper Keyword research to know what are your best Keywords, and use them throughout your site and pages. There’s a whole lot more to cover, so keep coming back to our blog and download our free eBook for more!

Action Item: Does your site have all of the improvements listed above? Are you tech-savvy enough to do all the necessary changes yourself, or do you have a web developer, or do you need the help of an expert to make all the necessary changes and walk you through everything?