Short Course On SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

I was reading a paper today and came across a quote buy Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Player Patrick Sharp who in talking about the Stanley Cup said “You can’t win the Stanley Cup in October. It is a process, and you.ve got to get better as the season goes on. You’ve got to keep building.”

As I read what he said I thought to myself, this sounds just like SEO. Putting together a winning SEO program is much the same as winning the Stanley Cup. It is a building process, of learning and growing over the course of the “season”.

Now many “professionals” seem to want to make this all mysterious and secretive so I have broken it down to the simplest way I can do demystify the act of Search Engine Optimization.

1) Find keywords. Pick a list of words relevant to your business. Think about which words are most likely to get people to do what you want them to do (convert into leads) and focus on those words. Then pick one word (or phrase) to use on one page of your site.

2) Put keywords in Page Title. The Page Title is one of the most important things that Google and other search engines evaluate to determine what is on a web page. Put your keyword or phrase in the title, keep it short.

3) Put keywords in Page URL. Google and other search engines also use the text of the URL of the page to determine the content of the web page. You should use your keyword or phrase in the URL of the web page - either the folder/directory structure or the HTML file / page name itself.

4) Put keywords in Meta Data. While the page metadata (Page Description and Keywords) are not nearly as important as they used to be, they still count. Take advantage of them by putting your keyword or phrase there. The description should be readable by a person and make sense and the keyword metadata should focus on your keyword or phrase - do not make it long, less is more.

5) Put keywords in your H1 text. The H1 text is usually the title of an article or some larger bold text at the top of your page. Google and the smaller search engines can see this and they put extra importance on the words in the H1 text. Make sure your keyword or phrase is there.

6) Use keywords in the page content. Putting the keyword in your page content also signals to search engines that the page is actually about the keyword and should show up in search results. We have heard from "experts" that you should use your keyword anywhere from 4-6 times to 10-12 times. Our advice is to just write naturally.

7) Monitor your rank. Give the search engines some time to do their thing (couple days) and then keep checking your rank to see what happened and track your progress.

Larson Notes & Satire: This is as simple as it gets. Now the only choice you need to make is to do it yourself of to contract out to us here at Larson’s to do it for you. Just kidding, NOT!

You can go out and find places that will guarantee you 1st place in a search. Ok, I can do that for you. You want 1st place? This is what they guarantee: 1st place if you type your name or your company’s name. Ya right, that will bring in new customers won’t it. What will that get you? Not much in the way of new business I’m afraid. But if you’re in business for the long-hall, if you in business to make it a moving, growing entity, you need to be able to do a key word search or word string to get you on the 1st page of Google, Yahoo or Bing! That is what you want!

I can say this because I did it for my company. I now have the word string of “telesales for printers” to bring my web site up 1st! (go on and try it, I dare you). Yep there I am, see, I made number one and I am working hard to keep it that way while at the same time working to get myself elevated in and with other key word stings. The complete secret might be a little more than only the 7 steps listed above, but you do those you are well on your way.

It took me 13 months with a brand new site and a new URL to do it. Now, do you want the same search position for your company? Just say the word.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/
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P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.


P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.