SEO Guidelines We All Need To Follow

A few years back I was filling out my resume. It was very difficult to explain what exactly it was that I did. SEO was a term that hadn’t quite hit the limelight. In fact searches on Monster and other career sites yielded no results for SEO or search engine optimization jobs at all. Internet Marketing had a few listings, but they were limited to pyramid schemes or other nonsense.

Today the job market knows what SEO is and there are plenty of listings for people that are experienced in both search engine optimization and search engine marketing. The problem now is that what people like me do is hardly covered by these categories and again I have no easy answer for the question “what do you do?” My kids also have a hard time in school answering “what does your daddy do?”

With the addition of social network marketing, Web 2.0 applications, server technologies, podcasting, blogging and other next generation skills added to my resume, it is harder to say in a few words what it is I do. I guess the best description would be – Internet Presence Management. That pretty much encompasses what I do, I mange online businesses Internet presence. Every aspect of what they do online and how they do it from the server to the website, from traffic analysis to usability studies my peers and I are Internet Presence Managers!

Now that I have a title all figured out I can finish that resume. Not that I really am looking for a job, but I like to see what is out there. I have gotten many clients by answering ads in Monster and careers.com. One of the major changes in my industry is that companies are looking to keep their SEO in-house as opposed to outsourcing it. Companies that live and die by their presence within organic SERP’s really need someone full time to help them make decisions that pertain to their Internet Presence.

A company that relies on search engines for their business must take SEO into consideration in every single business decision that they make.

Search Engine Optimization Guidelines For the 21st Century

SEO today is a lot different than 1999. Pay Per Click is not an option for a lot of small companies in large markets due to click fraud and ad-only sites spending lots of money filtering traffic through their spam doorway sites (read my article PPC Is Ruining the Web for more info). Legitimate companies are having a harder time than ever penetrating the SERP’s. To combat scamming spam, we all need to follow several guidelines to rise above the muck in the SERP’s.

1. Take SEO Into Consideration – Search Engine Optimization needs to be thought about in every business decision that your company makes. Most marketing departments have at least one SEO expert, but SEO must be taken into consideration by executives, programmers, graphic designers and web developers as well. Every decision from personnel to what type of web server your sites are hosted on, needs to keep SEO in mind.
2. Keywords Matter – by now you all know that SEO starts with keyword discovery. While a lot of experts rely on tools to make keyword lists, I prefer to use the interview process to create and organize keywords. Knowing what your potential customers are going to type into the search engines is the first step in site development and marketing plans.
3. Social Network Marketing – now more than ever Web 2.0 or social network marketing is taking the drivers seat in SEO strategies. Mainstream sites that are not embracing Web 2.0 will be left behind by their competitors that are using it. Read my post Search Engine Optimization and Social Network Marketing for more insight into these strategies. There are a whole set of guidelines just for Web 2.0 marketing. For this post I will touch on a few of the more important concepts.
   • Participate In Markets That Apply To Your Business – It is important to market your site in relevant communities. Rather than going for exposure everywhere, stay targeted. In online marketing more is usually better, but sometimes a sniper rifle will do more damage than a machine gun.
   • Keep It Real – this is especially true if you are utilizing blogs as your primary social marketing outlet. Promote yourself, not your products in your blog. If you do it right, people will follow your links and find your products or services easily. They don’t require blatant promotion, in fact that can turn a visitor off more often than not.
   • Learn About Your Community – you don’t want to rush right into a social network and self-promote without showing the community that you have something to offer first. You need to get experienced in your marketplace before posting in forums or marketing in social media sites.
   • Stay On Topic – don’t dilute your content with multiple topics about everything under the sun. Stay focused on what you do best, write about what you know. This is particularly important when trying to obtain inbound links. Good content is the best way to create a buzz and get solid inbound links.
4. Get Those Links – inbound links are the best way to promote your site. They are also the only way to rank high in the SERP’s and stay there. With Social Network Marketing it is easier than ever to obtain links. That being said the reality if the situation is a little different than it used to be. One way inbound links are not easily obtained anymore. Unless you are paying for links or are creating buzz through excellent content, it is harder to get those one way links. Reciprocal links have less of an impact that they used to as well. So why am I contradicting myself? One minute I am saying it is easier than ever to get links, then the next statement I am saying it is harder than ever to get one way links. The answer is the manner in which you can get links. There are more avenues than ever through social network marketing.
   • Online Press Releases - here is one avenue Google has not cried about when it comes to paying for links. By using an online distribution network, your release has the potential to gain hundreds of links from a well conceived press release. Optimized Press Releases are a great way to build buzz and links.
   • Syndicate Your Content Through RSS – with the advent of RSS Syndication Services there are more ways than ever to get your content on other sites. An RSS link is by far the most powerful link your site can obtain. Another high profile site that puts your feed on it, will boost your rankings faster than any other method. A managed content syndication service will greatly increase your exposure and bring both traffic and links.
   • Viral Video Marketing – with sites like You Tube your videos have a great chance to get syndicated leading to inbound links. By creating how-to videos for your products and instructional videos for your services you can say a thousand words with one video and gain exposure and links. Many sites need to educate their customers about their products and services. Video is the best way to get your point across. Remember to stay on topic!
   • Pingbacks, Trackbacks and Other Blog Goodies – by having a blog on your primary website you are able to keep the spiders coming back. If you don’t have a blog yet read my post about SEO and WordPress to get started. Blogs are a powerful way to communicate with your customers, but also allow you stay updated with the search engines.

Combining these strategies into your marketing plan will insure success, but don’t think for a second that it will be easy. SEO is a full time commitment that needs to take priority over everything else!