Understand the basics of SEO for websites before you start and avoid having to make unnecessary changes once you have finished creating it.

What is SEO?

SEO is short for ”search engine optimization”, and involves writing with the search engines in mind (or making changes to your current website) to rank higher in each of the search engines.

For example, if you have a toy cars website, do a search for “toy cars”, your website may come up as the 2,500^th website.  There is an art to moving your site up the ranking to place it within the first few pages of your target search engine.

There are literally hundreds of search engines out there.  However, we’ll just focus on Google and Yahoo as the they are the major engines.  Although Yahoo is technically a directory, similar rules better known as algorithms, govern them.  Play by the rules and you can be highly ranked … break the SEO for website rules and your site disappears.

While the rules can change, you still maintain a great deal of control on optimizing your site.

How SEO for Websites Works

First of all be don’t be overwhelmed with the new terminology.  It will become easier to understand as you continue.

Design or optimize your site, if it is already prepared, around the search engine SEO for website rules that Google and Yahoo have created.  This is achieved by changing the organic or algorithmic ranking of your site.  When the quality of your site is improved, you should generally move up the rankings from 2,500^th to say 500^th and so on.  This is achieved by adjusting the three pillars of your website.

1. Text and Design – This is any thing concerning the placement of writing or copy.  If you are selling balloons the text should have the word balloons placed throughout it.  As a general rule for every 100 words you write you should have your keyword written through the copy 10 times or 10% of your total page.  Key word optimization is extremely important as you this is what ‘sells’ your product.

2. Links – Making your site easy to read for both your customers and the search engines is important,  But getting traffic there in the first place is just as important. Linking your site with others, allow customers to be directed to you through other peoples websites.

3. Popularity – You may have other people working in compatible fields who would like to use some of the information from your site by linking to you.  If their site is highly ranked, your ranking will also be enhanced.

The search engines use a software device called a ‘Spider’ to ‘crawl’ through your site each time a search is performed.  This software organizes website contents and ranks you according to specific words your customer is searching by. It searches to see whether you’ve followed the SEO for websites rules.

So, imagine that each page of your website is a stand alone site.  Everything you put on that page must be conveying 1-3 words in the mind or the customer, and the search engines.  So when someone searches for your product or service it will bring up the pages most relevant to that customer’s search.

SEO for Website points to cover when designing your site:

If you’re creating it yourself then great!  However, if someone else is preparing it, make sure they clearly understand these steps and ask for samples of their work.  This is why it pays to master the basics yourself.

1. Easy Navigation

This is very important for both the search engines and customers who read your site.  Plan for easy navigation, it allow customers to move around your site freely and reverse any actions simply so they can return quickly and easily to previous pages.  This is attractive to customers who want to find relevant information quickly.

1. 2-3 Colors or good color co-ordination

Did you know each color stimulates different emotions?  Red is exciting, blue is relaxing…

It’s important to keep your site ‘clean from clutter’, so aim to minimize the colors and choose several colors that are neutral, friendly to the eyes and relevant to the emotions you want to stimulate.

1. Page headings – Title Tags

If you look at the top of this page, in the blue heading, this blue heading called your title tag.  When the search engines scan your site this is the one of the first items they note.  Make sure your heading is a relevant title for the content of the article page.

1. Search friendly-text – no spelling mistakes

Obviously, this is an important part of your site for general credibility.  It’s equally important for allowing the search engines to correctly ’spider’ your site.

1. Using meta tags

Title tag, which are your keyword containing heading and your meta description, the brief detail of each page contains is listed on the search engines when you are ranked.

Meta tags were once considered the key ingredient in SEO.  However, today they are seldom used.  Yet, they still have their relevance.  They might not help your site achieve a high ranking but they will ultimately serve you to include keywords in your meta tags, who knows what the search engines will do next.

1. Keyword optimization

You can take your pictures away and still sell, but you can’t take your words away and expect to sell.

Keywords are the words that describe your site to your customer. Selecting keywords to represent your product and service should not be general.  For instance if your site is about Golf your keywords need to be more detailed than ‘golf’.  They need to be keywords such as ’long range’ or ‘golf slice’.  This is also referred to as your ‘niche’ and should be used to separate you from the competition.

1. Share Links

In order to direct traffic to your site, you need to allow other website to ‘link’ to you.  The trick here is to link to sites that are relevant but not in direct competition with you.  The higher these sites are in their ranking the more traffic you will receive and the greater your own ranking in the search engines.  Make sure you create a links page to allow others to link to you.  However, this is not a hard and fast rule.  While it is quite a time consuming exercise to find relevant sites and then link to that site, there is software that will work for you automatically. Unique article wizard (UAW) is an excellent tool to help you manage and lift your ranking in the search engines

Google uses a great system called PageRank or PR as it’s shown on the Google tool bar.  If you download the Google Toolbar you can see a green box indicating from 1- being the lowest and 8-being the highest, how popular any page is in Google. Currently Mozilla Firefox supports PR if your using it now look down at the bottom right hand corner for the PR symbol.

The Alexa Toolbar offers the same, however it provides more detail and shows you which sites are linked to that particular page as well as its ranking. Both are FREE to download!

Google + Alexa ToolBar – Screen Shot

Alexa Bar – Screen Shot

1. Site map

Making it easy for your customers and the search engines to navigate your site is extremely important. Designing a site map allows for quick direction to any selected areas.  I use a site map for this very reason. A site map should contain a list of all your title tags and a brief description of all pages on your site.

9. Keyword optimization

Perhaps the most important SEO for website point of them all. You can remove your pictures and colors, but if you remove your words you simply won’t sell your product. Discover tips and tools for optimizing your website for your customers.

I can’t stress how important keyword optimization is, it determines your ranking, thus your traffic and if customers purchase from your site.  Your text, in most cases, takes up most of your site.  It is pivotal to your success online.  Keywords define exactly what you do, thus creating your niche.

The Top 2 All-In-One Professional Website Design Software

SiteBuildit!	XsitePro 2
Key Features: Brainstorming & Researching tools Web/html/graphic designer Host of your website Domain name annual renewal (automatic) Submit unlimited URL’s to Search engines Ranking Reports for search engines Unique keyword search reports for search engines Ranking reports for directories Unique keyword search reports Search engine optimization (SEO) SBI! Tips HQ and Resource HQ 4 Traffic HQ’s Pay-per-click research and mass bidding Click-in and click through analysis E-zine subscription and delivery Value exchange Form builder (contact us forms etc) Link Fix it! (No more bad links) Monetize it! – Optimizing your site for prefromance Site selling supply (assess compeition) Private SBI! (Support forum) Action Guides and Video Guides	Key Features: Change your website in minutes not days Add Google Adsense in two clicks Upload your website to the internet in one click Automatic site map updates, add Google Sitemap aswell Keyword and website reports Hide unattractive page urls by creating redirect pages Easy to create Links page for SEO Create SEO friendly navigation menus that update themselves Add an articles and privacy page in minutes Spell checker Keywords automatically entered into your pages No need to learn HTML code, just write cut and drop SEO page analysis, see if your doing it right instantly Add forms, affiliate links and buttons in two clicks A ’suggestion list’ for SEO Stores all your passwords and usernames Create hover ad’s and pop-ups easily Add attractive and shape effects
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
SBI! Makes it easy to design your own website and gives you access to all the advanced sections of the website. The support is second to none and the all-in-one price gives you every thing you need to run a successful business from home or office.	With a little less emphasis on support, XSitePro is for the more advanced internet entrepreneur. If you understand the basics of internet marketing, this software provides slightly more flexibility in its design compared to SBI!  I personally started with SBI which taught me everything I know about running a successful website.  Yet I moved to XSitePro because its more designer focused, something that I needed.
<javascript>	<javascript>
Price: RRP $299	Price: RRP $199
Rating:  (Highly Recommended)	Rating:

I highly recommend SiteBuildit! The manual provided with the software is worth the price on its own.  SiteBuildit is easy to use and especially if you have no idea about how to get your site up with content, affiliate links and link strategies in place.  This software will help you do all of this in easy to understand steps.  From the creation of your site through to making it search engine friendly.  Click here for more information on <javascript>

XsitePro on the other hand is designed more with usability in mind.  If you know even the basics about how to market and promote your website, then xsitepro is a great tool too and a little less expensive, which is always plus.  It pays to know your stuff!  Click here for more information on <javascript>

---

Continue Course – ‘Internet Marketing Promotion’ Course – Step 4.   increase site traffic

• Step 5.   Website conversion
• Step 6.   Email campaign software
• Step 7.   Articles submission
• Step 8.   Pay Per Click bid
• Step 9.   Adsense information
• Step 10. SEO link building
• Step 11. Search engine optimization
• Step 12. Search engine optimization consulting