As a cartoonist, I don’t get asked too many questions regarding the world of website SEO. As an Internet consultant who studied business at Western Governor’s University, I get asked questions daily. And it really is not much of a surprise. A great many web owners do not know SEO. There are others who think they know SEO, and “learned from experts”, only to find out within a few weeks or months that their site has been removed from Google for using backdoor or blackhat methods of marketing. The sad thing is that most of them didn’t have a clue they were doing it unethically. They simply downloaded an Ebook that they paid way to much money for and followed the instructions.
What they fail to realize is that most of the time, the author of that ebook has downloaded another ebook before writing his/or hers and simply plagurized most of it, thinking, “If I bought it on the Internet, and from a guru, chances are it’s good information. Usually it is not.
The reason I don’t write Ebooks or call myself an expert or guru is because I am not. I know a lot now, from studying three years in college focusing on Internet studies, but I’m still no guru, nor claim to be. However, I am good at SEO. How do I know? I have SEO’d my own cartoon site up to number 65,000 in Alexa. With 6-8 billion websites on the Internet, try getting in the Alexe Top 100,000. I wish you luck. It took me seven years but I kept studying and learning, and now know a few things. But I still research numerous times to make certain those things are correct. There is just too much bad information out there that even the author believes is good information.
I guess the most asked questions are, “What should I do, PPC Advertising, article marketing, blogging, link exchange, keyword optimization, or what?
They are always asking me the best method because they want to put all their eggs in that basket.
When launching your website, look at it as a store in an empty mall in a part of the North Pole where no man has been before. Your job is to find a way to attract people to visit there, and eventually make it a major tourist attraction. Not such an easy task. But very do-able.
Can all this be done in a week? Certainly, if you want to get kicked off most of the major web engines. You simply start spamming and spamming is a numbers game. The problem is spamming is bad netiquette and even illegal in some states. And you will be spinning your wheels. That is not just email spamming but blog spamming, article spamming and any other kind.
One SEO method at a time. Learn it well and go to the next. Learn it well and go to the next. I always start with keywords and blogging and go to the more complex ones like article marketing and ppc advertising after I’ve mastered the first. Some like to learn it all at once. It’s a matter of style. Use keywords wisely and sparingly and very targeted. Don’t stuff them all over your site.
Get a blog, preferably a blog within your own domain. Remember you are also branding your product or service and you want it to be your blog, not Myspace, or Facebook. When you blog with them, which is okay for meeting people, socializing etc., you are helping brand them. If you feel so charitible then do so. I have blogs at many different sites, but I use my main blog with my company’s name on it the most often. That is my “focus blog”. I go to pinging services like Pingoat as welll
I still believe article marketing is king, that is, if you are a good writer. If not, there are places to find them all over the web. It can be worth it to pay for a few good articles and let them submit them, but be sure to get it on Ezinearticles and maybe Isnare, as those are the most read.
Some SEOs use article submission software and online services that prevent spamming, and can write and rewrite your article and allow you to use targeted keywords that prevent it from pinging unwanted blogs.
Be careful though, when using these softwares and services and make certain they do what they say they do. A good place to start is Tucows or Download and read some of the reviews. Cnet offers a good many reviews as well.
Please, again, be patient. You may have a hundred articles under your belt before you notice a change ina rank change dramatic increase in visitors. Also, in article marketing, as in any other kind of SEO, “Its a jungle out there” or even a war, and everyone is vying for the top position. So for heaven’s sake don’t just write an article and put your link. Google is on to that and can see through it pretty fast. Write something of value and substance that people can and will use.
Pay Per Click often comes up in conversations. I use pay per click engines, as its inexpensive and a good idea. But before using it, read the tutorial or knowledge page that the service offers. I have used most of them and find Google Adwords to be the easiest interface and most flexible. MSN Adsense, though not as big, offers some fun surprises too. Both offer quality hits.
A lot of people swear by the smaller pay per click companies, but I have never had much luck with them.
There are many other things to know, and a lot of them I am currently learning. I will share them as I research and find them to be true. I know proper SEO works in my own Londons Times Cartoon stores, and I have seven of them. If I didn’t use it, I would simply have seven desert islands with seven unbuilt hotels.
Related posts:
