Search engine optimization is not an exact science. Anyone who is in the industry or has successfully executed a SEO campaign knows that it can take a number of months before you can truly reap the benefits. With that being said, search engine optimization starts from the birth of a website. If you own a website or are thinking of starting one, arming yourself with some useful information during the beginning stages will make your campaign run a lot smoother.
Stage 1. Designing your site.
This is the most critical of all stages, if your site is not search engine friendly you have already began the costly road to re-design. Talk to your web designer and make sure he doesn't talk you into a flash website or a website that uses frames. Although frames have been almost put to rest, I will on a occasion run into a site or two and find myself shaking my head and well flash sites are very attractive to the visitor, all your vital content is put into a file that search engines can't crack. IF you really do love a flash site, there are ways to get around this. Simply ask your designer to create you a html version of your site so you can offer one for visitors and one for search engines. As for e-commerce sites do your research carefully, there are many free shopping carts and database driven sites that will talk big and look good but do not have certain features that can be a crucial part of search engine optimization. Look for seo friendly URL's, editable title tags for each individual page, ability to change content when new and updated information comes available.
Stage 2. Site completion.
When your site is ready to go and fully designed start the initial steps to linking. Search engines like Google and Yahoo! can not find you unless you let them know you are there. Look at the biggest directories and start submitting. FYI, the sooner you get yourself submitted to DMOZ the better. If you want to talk true test in patience try to get listed in that monstrosity in a timely manner, but I digress. Now there are many SEO's will dazzle you with the idea that you will need to re-submit to these search engines and directories but trust me with saying that once is enough, and often times there may be a penalty issued if you submit your site too many times. Let your friends know you have a website, add it to your myspace, facebook & linkedin or any social bookmarking site that you use. If your friends have a website , go ahead buy them lunch and ask them to add your link. The more time you spend linking before hiring an SEO firm, the less time you spend waiting for results.
Stage 3. Keyword Analysis.
Find out your best choice of keywords. What are people searching for, sometimes you think you know the right keyphrase but you can be completely wrong. Talk to your colleagues, clients and friends. Ask what they would type when searching for your product or service. In most cases it can be fairly easy. You own a bed & breakfast in anytown, your obvious choice would be "anytown bed and breakfast". With some simple research you can find your best keywords.
The next phase is to decide weather you want to start this campaign yourself or hire a SEO firm. In either case you can be waiting to see top page results for up to 6 months, with an established site with a starting page rank. If you are a brand new site, this process can take up to a year. Remember Rome wasn't built in a day, and SEO is an investment you can not afford to pass by. Marketing in any size will take time, but if you are patient and let the ball roll as it should you will see how your investment pays you back tenfold.
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