Start your SEO Campaign.
October 19, 2010
Starting your search engine optimization campaign for your website can be overwhelming, especially if you are in the process of learning it. It is vitally important that you realize that there are efforts that are frowned upon that should not be used and there are others that are just fine to use that are industry standard techniques. Those that are ok and are industry standard are known as white hat techniques, and those efforts that should not be used are known as black hat techniques.
One of the black hat DON’Ts for search engine optimization campaigns is purchasing links. Many people think at first that doing this sounds like a great idea, but would find that it can lead to huge problems for their websites and for themselves. Buying links is prohibited by Google’s website guidelines, so if you want to improve your website’s rankings legitimately, this is not the way to go. Purchasing a link should be done with investing in some sort of online advertising that will generate more visitors to your website, leading of course to an increase in business.
Another practice you should not engage in is relying on software to get the job done. Software won’t grow your business online; only you can do that! Even though many are tempted to use these products, you have to remember that there are a lot of human elements that come into play in order to market websites successfully that software simply cannot replicate.
Don’t waste your time dealing with being placed in mass directories, either. It will absolutely not be worth the time, effort or money, even if you use software to do it. Realistically, there are only about ten public directories that a website like yours should be listed in that will benefit your SEO campaign. Some of the directories that you may actually benefit from include Yahoo! Directory, BOTW, DMOZ and Business.com.
Beware of link exchanges, which is not something that is done proactively anymore. The only time that a link exchange works correctly is when they naturally happen. When another website or Internet user decides to do a write-up on your business and you let your audience know about it through your website, this is naturally-occurring link exchanges.
Watch for flash. It might sound like a neat-o idea to have a seamless, smooth website that flash can provide, but in reality search engines have a pretty difficult time trying to read sites with flash. It’s recommended that you try to stick with only small, certain elements in your website that are flash.
Overall, you need to make sure that you have the dedication and the time to properly learn search engine optimization properly. There is no sense in doing it all haphazardly- you will only waste your time and money. It has to be all or nothing with SEO campaigns, and the best way to achieve a successful campaign is to either do it the right way yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.