|
SEO for Beginners
by Lee Rixon
I had a learned marketing friend of mine comment that the
information on SEO on our blog was ok for a propeller-head,
but didn’t really help a business owner, so this article
is intended to set the stage for information contained in
the related articles.
Firstly - what is SEO? Well - its short for Search Engine
Optimization, and its the process of tuning up your web site
so that it ranks better on search engines.
Why is that important? - well think of your web site as a
book. It is sitting in the very large library called the Internet,
and the only people that know about it are friends and current
business acquaintances. They know the title of the site and
where it sits on the shelf.
What you are trying to do through SEO is to get your site
listed in the equivalent of the Internet catalog. That way
people that are not intimately acquainted with who you are
and what you sell will find you…..
Not only that - you are also trying to get your site listed
at the top of the index for a particular subject. There are
millions of sites out there on every conceivable subject.
If you sell widgets, then it won’t do you very much good
if your site is the 1543th listed under ‘widgets’.
It would be like having a Yellow page advertisement where
your business is listed in very small print at the back of
the book!
There are two ways that you can get your site listed highly
- the first is through paying for a listing - Google Adwords
is one program that will help in that. These are the paid
listings that you will see on the right side of the page when
you do a Google search. The second method is through Search
Engine Optimization, which will raise your rankings in the
main listings.
What Search Engine Optimization does is make your web site
more appetizing to the search engines, and make your site
more important to them.
How is it done? That is a long subject that is addressed briefly
in the other articles:
# SEO Keywords
# SEO Keywords Continued
# SEO Keywords Continued 2
# SEO Keywords Continued 3
# SEO Keywords Continued 4
Can you SEO your own site? Yes of course you can. Follow those
articles and I’ll guarantee your rankings will improve,
but my recommendation is to leave it to an expert. Doing it
yourself is like trying to build a deck armed only with a
screwdriver and a knife. You can get there, but its going
to be a frustrating experience.
An SEO expert can save you an immense amount of time, trial
and error and frustration, as they have the right tools for
the job.
Oh, one more piece of advice. If you see an organization promising
to get you a top ten listing for $10 a month……RUN!
It can’t be done ethically for that amount of money,
and the search engines are just as likely to ban your site
as to list it highly - you have been warned!!
About the Author
Lee is one of the principals at Spinnaker Systems which provides
Web related services to the small business owner. Lee can
be contacted at lee@spinnakersystems.com and is a regular
contributor to the Spinnaker Blog
|
