1. *Research Your Keyword Phrases.
*Invest the time and do your research. What do users type in the search
engines when looking for services or products on your site. We use a few
tools such as WordTracker , Keyword
Discovery and Overture’s Keyword
Selector toolamong
others to find out what keyword phrases are best to target. Never
assume you know which keywords to target until you do the research. I
guarantee you will learn something about your business and your target
audience when you do. Finding a keyword you didn’t realize was being
searched on can add visitors and increase

conversions.

2. *Design an SEO-Friendly Website.*
I cringe every time I see an all Flash site and I’m asked to achieve high
rankings for said site. As much as Flash can hurt a site for rankings there
are other things to be aware of, such as: sparse text, poorly written code,
javascript on your pages, 404 errors, using graphics instead of text,
javascript navigation, deeply nested pages and pages that can’t be found by
clicking a link are just a few. Make sure a someone with SEO knowledge with
the site design and build. While later is better than never, ideally you
want the SEO consultant to work with the designers and programmers.
3. *Write Unique Page Titles.*
I wrote about this earlier so take a look at my post on How Important Are
Website Titles.
It is critical that every web page on your site have a different and unique
title. It is the most important part of your web page when search engines
are determining your web page message and ranking. This is easy, so be sure
to do it.
4. *Write Focused Content.*
This may appear to be simple common sense, but too often a web page will
try to be too many things and dilute its true message. Each thought, theme
or topic should have its own web page. If you sell dog products, then a page
for each category would be needed. Dog toys would be a major category with
its own page, but chew toys would be a new page and so on. You wouldn’t mix
chew toys and dog bedding. The search engines want to see a focus so they
know what to rank your web page for as well as where to rank your web page.
5. *Insert Keywords.*
If you have written a descriptive and keyword-rich title it follows suit
that your page content is also going to have keywords throughout. Write for
humans, but keep in mind the search engines. You don’t want to overdue it,
but you do want your page theme to be evident. List your keyword phrase in
your titles, headers and content and the search engines will know reward you
with higher visibility.
6. *Build Keyword-Rich Links.*
There is nothing more important for the high ranking success of your site
than strategic link building. And with that said, there is nothing more
important than choosing the right text to link to your site. If your company
name is “Big Oak Studios ” and you are an SEO
company then you better be sure to request
any links pointing to your site have similar terms such as SEO, company,
firm, search engine optimization, marketing, Internet somewhere in the
links. Let the link state your business, not your web address or company
name.
7. *Find Quality Links.*
Since acquiring links is the most important off-site task you can do,
then it would reason you should do it right. While having a large number of
links is important, making sure they are quality is tantamount to your
site’s success. This is especially true in high competition areas. Quality
links from sites with authority (popular and trusted sites) carry more
weight. One link from an authority site can be worth a hundred or more
low-quality sites.