Basic SEO And Internet Marketing Techniques For Beginners

Lets start off with a Wiki Quote:
"Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion. Typically, the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence."

Here's the laymen version:
SEO is simply the act of strategically driving traffic to your website. This is done through tagging, site submission, and much more.

The answer to that is pretty easy. Whether your site is made for a business or just your personal blog with an Adsense account, your website has the potential to make you loads of money, or at least a little cash now and then. Using SEO techniques will help drive your business more leads, your Adsense account more clicks or your organization more support.

SEO doesn't have to big big, complicated or expensive, it all just depends on what your looking for. If you are looking for a few more leads, a little more traffic, or a couple more click-throughs on your site, this is a great place to start.

Before you can get started on your sites SEO work, you need to build your site. The content of your site makes the biggest difference.

Before you write the content for your site, pick 3-5 "keywords" that you want to use. These are the words that will place you in the Google results when people search under them.

When you write your sites content, place as many of those keywords as you can, one time each, on your back-pages. On your Home page, try to use each keyword at least two times.

"Keyword" Tips

~Always remember that your keywords need to make sense within your content. Don't add keywords unless they make sense in the context of the message you are trying to get across.

~Don't overuse your keywords. If your keyword is used too many times on a page, you run a risk of Google viewing your site as spam.

If you have a website, you need to track your stats. The stats your host gives you usualy aren't enough to show you what you need, but Google Analytics is just too complicated. Enter Google Webmaster tools.

Google Webmaster Tools is a very simple to use solution that extracts some of the same information as Google Analytics, just a lot less detail. This information is is compiled in a set of easily read modules. For people with no prior experience and who don't have the time to dedicate, these modules contain some of the most important data you could need. This information includes; Top Keywords, HTML Errors, 404 pages, viewer stats, crawl errors and so much more.

If you are just getting started in the Web Design or SEO fields, or even if you are a long time pro, Google Webmaster Tools is a must have.

Google Analytics, if used properly, can be an SEO's best tool. This amazing tool can track, compare & analyze your visitor as well as their source, page views, demographics & trends. You also have the ability to track keyword, ad campaigns & custom goal sets.
I personally knew of Google Analytics for some time before actually trying it. Don't make the same mistake that I made and wait, go to the Google Analytics page, sign up for an account and read all the documentation they have available on their site.
There just one lat thing left for you to do, play around and learn how to use it and how to make it work for your websites specific needs.

Many web developers and web marketers have spent a ton of money on Google AdWords campaigns. One big word of advice from someone who's been there / sone that, if you don't have a firm knowledge of PPC, don't waste the money. With that said, What is PPC?

PPC is the concept of paying a search engine or webmaster to post your ad or link on their page. Unlike traditional advertising costs though, instead of paying a flat fee for your ad, you pay for every person who clicks on your link. If you have a generous budget, time to spare and a willingness to learn, this can be a most valuable tool. If you are lacking in any of these areas, hire a professional or focus your attentions elsewhere.

The most recent issue of Website Magazine, had a great article about the coming web-trends for 2010. Here is a quick version of the trends they discussed in my words as well as some of what I got out of reading the article.

SocialHere's the quick version, if you aren't using Social Networking yet, Start Now! Last year showed a HUGE boost in Social Network users. As people continue to rely more and more on Social Networking, businesses and webmasters will need to build a social presence and reputation in order to survive.
The #1 problem that many professionals and businesses came up against was the lack of reporting and accountability available for Social Marketing. But not anymore, there is now a plethora of tools available to show your stats and determine how valuable Social Networking is for you as well as what you are doing right or wrong.

ContentA few modules down, I talk a little about the importance of quality content, and this article covered all the same bases. The key here is that if your site has low quality content, you can expect a very low ROI. Internet users are looking for high quality content to lead them into high quality products or services. Whether you can do the content publishing yourself, or if you need to outsource, do yourself a favor and make quality content a top priority.
As a side note here, almost as important as quality content is regular updating. Whether it be a small blog or just making small changes to the content on a regular basis, up-to-date content and regular site updates will help your users know that your site has the best quality content available.

AnalyticsAgain a topic that I have already written about, Analytic Tools, such as Google Analytics, are key to web success. Having the ability to track and monitor your sites visitors is one of the most important aspects of your Website Campaigns. 2010 has a lot of promise for advancement in Analytic Tools. Google Analytics has already brought some of these advancements into play with their Intelligent Alerts and advanced filtering, goals & funnels. Be on the look out this year for some big advancements in Analytics.

VideoIf you use the Internet, you probably could already assume that video has become a huge part of the web experience. If you don't have any video on your site, it might be time to look into putting some up. Whether you place your video directly on the site itself, or embed a YouTube video from your channel, adding video to your site will help create a better user experience for your visitors.
Also, if you have an E-Mail Marketing campaign, you may want to check with your E-Mail Service Provider if they offer video Emails. As users become more reliant and more comfortable with web videos, adding videos to your marketing campaigns or newsletters could be the touch that puts you above your competition.

There you have it. The coming trends for 2010. If you are behind the times, stop playing catch-up and get ahead of the game. As you look into implementing any of the coming trends, remember one thing; The More, The Merrier! Don't just focus on one piece and let the rest go to the wayside. Try out a couple at the same time, and see which work for you, and which don't. Good Luck, and have a great 2010!!

One of the most important aspects of building a Google ranking is inbound links. The general theory is that the more inbound links you have to your site, the better your Google ranking. Just try to remember the golden rule of link building, Quality Not Quantity.

Here's how it works, If you have 10 good quality, well ranked links from reputable sites it will give you better results than 100 low quality, low ranked links from unknown or little known sites. So make sure that your links are good quality, make sure you affiliate with well known, high ranking sites and your on your way to higher rankings.

Grab some links with Search Engine Submission - AddMe.

If you are having a hard time building good quality links, you might want to consider researching "Link Wheels". A great place to start is at the /www.addme.com/submission/free-submission-start.php">Search Engine Submission - AddMe">Backlinks - Link Wheel Page.They offer a great starting point with some excellent information. After that you can always Google "Link Wheels", just stay away from the sites that offer to build a link wheel for a fee. Not only can this get expensive but you lose some control over your marketing efforts this way.

I am still learning about the whole concept myself, this is what I've learned. Create a press release linking to both your page and another social bookmark, blog or press release that you control. Each page after that will link to both your page and another "Web 2.0" page and so on and so on. This continues until you link back to the original page, thus creating a wheel with each link as a spoke and your main site as the hub. I know this is an over simplified version, but I'd rather not copy everyone else words and let you do some of the research yourself.

Go to Google, search for almost any subject and look at the top ten results. At least one of those should be a blog. Blogs will probably make up 5 results on the first page. This can be one of your greatest tools if you use it to our advantage.

Using a blog for SEO works in two ways. First off it will provide quality links towards your site. This is what I consider to be the main purpose. Blogging can also help you to drive focused traffic to your site. Deliberate traffic to your site is not only good for sales, but is also a large part of what Google looks at when determining your Page Rank.

First and foremost, make sure that your blog is filled with good quality content. The content needs to be somewhat related to the purpose and content of the site you are linking to. Then you want to use some of the same SEO techniques you would use for your website.

Here are some good sites where you can set up free blogs;
Xanga.com
Blogger.com
Word Press
Blog.com

Have you ever used information or advice from a forum to help you shop? Or what about finding the answer to a question or problem? Ever scan through the forums just to see what people are saying, or check out the latest trends?

Of course you have, we all have. Forums are the foundations of the Net, we started our venture into the WWW world through net-groups and AOL. Today's Social Networking trends are based off the same social communication concepts as the forums of old.

So, how does this help me boost my site? Easy. Scan through popular forums with similar topics to your site or blog. Start responding to peoples comments giving both quality answers as well is strategically placing your link throughout your comments.

If you don't know what an authority site is, go to Wikipedia or you could even take a look at the page you are on right now. Authority sites are pages that are filled with well written, good quality, trusted content with the sole purpose of giving that content to the general public.

This Squidoo Lense has multiple links to the Nitewalker Designs Website. These are good quality links that will rank well with Google.

You can use the same type of content and information as you would in a blog, the only difference is that Authority sites have the potential to gain much higher rankings than most blogs. My three favorite places to design free authority sites are;
Squidoo (of course)
Hub Pages
E-Zine Articles

According to a recent article in Website Magazine, Google, as well as other Search Engines, is taking a deeper interest in sites that include rich media on their pages. This could be anything from photo galleries to embedded YouTube videos.

There are two things to remember when adding media content to your site.

1 - Watch out for site slowdowns. If your site takes more than 5 seconds to load, your visitors will bounce before having the chance to view the rest of your pages. Compress your videos and images to ensure that there are no dramatic decreases in load-up time. Also, as a small side note, by using non-specific video types, like the .flv format, will help make sure tat you don't end up with a blank video player or error messages. This will help to ensure that all of your visitors are able to view all of that beautiful content.

2 - Tag your media. Use tags for your images and videos to help engines , such as Google Images, to find your site through media based search queries. Also, don't name your images xrt33421.jpeg, use relevant names that coincide with both your page content and the image intself, such as the picture on this module which is named Video and tagged as Multi Media, Images, Video. By properly tagging and naming your media, you will not only add quality, desirable content to your page, but increase your SEO presence at the same time.

Do you use YouTube? I bet you do. When you develop your profile, and when you write descriptions for your video, even when you review other peoples videos, you have an excellent opportunity to market your site as well as to create quality links to your site.

You can do this the same way you would in public forums.

The world i an ever-changing place, and the newest and hottest trend of the times is Social Networking. Social Network sites include;
Facebook - Micro Blogging along with simple to navigate social networking tools.
Myspace - One of the original social networking sites, Myspace can be difficult to navigate and is slower than slow but it is still very popular and well know.
Twitter - Twitter is a new concept in micro-blogging that has revolutionized the way people communicate.
YouTube - YouTube offers a new way to share yourself. Whether through Video Blogging or just sharing what you see, using comments, tags and video descriptions can drive traffic to your site that you didn't even know existed.
Digg - Use Digg to share your sites, blogs and lenses with the world. Users rank the pages which determine the search ranking in their results.

On these sites people do everything from keeping in touch with friends and family to playing games, participating in surveys, sharing pictures and videos, finding old friends, shopping and even dating. Social Networking is the "hub" that Viral Marketing is based around. When someone discovers something new or finds something they like, they share it instantaniosly with all of their friends, who in turn share with theirs and so on.

When used correctly, this can be one of the greatest SEO and marketing tools in your arsenal. I would recomend that everyone do a little reearch and discover the true power of Social Network Marketing and SEO. Here is a great article on using Twitter, and another article about Facebook Marketing.

I don't know how many times this can be stressed, but I'll say it one more time;

The most important aspect of anything, whether it be a blog, authority site, forum response and even your website, is to consistently add quality content.

If you don't remember anything else from these lessons, memorize that.

There you go, from my brain to your monitor. Some of the simplest and most effective methods of boosting your site. There's only two things left for you to do. Experiment with what you've learned here and determine for yourself what works best for you and fits your purpose.

The next thing you need to do is to keep learning on your own. Do some research, read some books, buy some software and look at some of the lenses that are at the bottom of this page. If you really get into SEO, you can keep learning forever, and in my chosen trade, that is a wonderful thing.

I wanted to mention real quickly here, Website Magazine. This magazine is one of the best resources around. the Free version comes out about 4 times a year and is a great way to determine whether to pay for the full, monthly version. I subscribed as a free account about 9 months ago and upgraded after receiving the first issue. It was that good. Stop by their website at http://www.WebsiteMagazine.com and sign up for the free account.

SEO Elite - This software covers everything from proper search engine submision to keyword research and much more.

SEO CodeBreaker - SEO CodeBreaker Is A Collection Of 5 Hours Of Video That Are Designed To Show People How To Get Traffic To A Website.

Xtreme Rankings - Google Rankings instructional. One of the best series I've read.

This lens was created By Ryan Bouse of Nitewalker Designs.

With over 11 years of experience, Nitewalker Designs offers a full range of marketing expertise including;

* Graphic Design * Photo Retouching * Webite Design * Guerrilla Marketing Campaigns * Branding * Corporate Marketing Training *

Trust your marketing needs to Nitewalker Designs, your satisfaction is our #1 priority!