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Top 5 Tips for SEO Success

With search engines currently ranking over 20 billion websites, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.  If you are one of the fortunate businesses to rank within the Top 30 search results, than kudos to you — you have the attention of about 90% of us.  Why?  Because studies indicate that 9 out of 10 searchers will not venture past the third page of search results to find what they need.  If you do not make the cut, this could lead to lost opportunities for your business.

With such a over-crowded internet space, what is a business owner to do?  Arm yourself with the Top 5 basics that any SEO campaign should include in order to be successful:

Tip #1:  Page Titles

The benefits of well-thought out page titles are two-fold:  First, they help set an impression for searchers so they know what a page is about, and second, they weigh heavily as an algorithmic ranking factor.  Make sure that your chosen keywords are used throughout the title tags in order of importance from left to right.  In addition, make sure each page’s title tag is unique, and does a good job at describing the page’s content.

Tip #2:  Page Headings

Headings are helpful to searchers, and also favored by the search engines.  Use them where appropriate and make sure that they contain keyword-rich terms or phrases.  Users tend to “scan” web pages rather than read them, so using well-crafted headers will enhance your site’s readability.

Tip #3:  Produce Fresh Content

Produce fresh content on your site as often as humanly possible.  With the search engines, Content is king — Search engine spiders thrive on new content, so feed them often. For many, a blog easily solves this requirement.  Another solution is digitizing your internal company materials, such as brochures, white papers, articles, press releases, and so forth.  Make sure all documents are properly optimized, and web-ready.

Tip #4:  Social Media

Social media is a powerful traffic driver that is becoming hard to ignore.  Social networking and bookmarking activities on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and Delicious may prove to be invaluable to your overall SEO efforts.  Find a online community you can relate to, and get involved.  Join forums, create links, listen to feeds, and ask questions.  Build quality content within your own site and blog, incorporate RSS feeds, and watch the volume of your followers grow.

Tip #5:  Link Building

Link building accounts for a large majority of an SEO campaign’s success, perhaps upwards of 75% or more.  Build “one-way” links from websites and directories to your site.  We are talking quality vs. quantity here.  A handful of quality links from reputable sites is more valuable than a large volume of links from less-reputable sites.  Focus on one-way links rather than reciprocal links.  Remember that no site is an island — The web began with links and that has not changed.

Overview

SEO should not be considered a “one and done” process.  It takes times, as in months of time, so plan accordingly, and for the long-term.  Be selective of the SEO expert you choose to work with, and be wary of consultants or agencies that make any type of guarantees.  

If you decide to take on the task yourself, remember to stay fresh on your content and blogs, link building, and social media efforts.  Never let your site become stale.  As your business needs change or evolve over time, your SEO efforts should follow suit.