Five Simple SEO Tasks

Preface: Below are just a few simple things that anyone can do to improve their Search Engine exposure that do not require any special skills or knowledge. One of the great things about marketing yourself or business on the web is that unlike any other advertizing you have a choice on the web. You can either choose to pay someone like me to do these tasks or you can do many of them yourself and let your time take the place of your money. Either way the below items will help with your websites promotion and marketing in the Search Engines as well as others. If your website is fairly new I recommend you first concentrate on the local area and then build your marketing campaign out from there if you are seeking a larger geographic market.

1) Set up some Social Networking Accounts. Twitter, Facebook Fan Page, LinkedIn, Delicious and YouTube. There are many more so feel free to set up as many as you like. In each of these enter a brief description of your business and services and be sure to include your location and contact information. It is a smart idea to have your location in the first line of the description to allow the search engine to know where you are located as well as any viewers. Be sure to have a link to your site and make sure to use the same link format in all of the places. Example: http://www.yoursite.com or http://yoursite.com  Always when linking to your site either use the www or leave it off, do not mix them up as you want any page rank to all flow to the same URL.  Note, for my next blog I plan to expand on this topic so be sure to check back in a few days for more on basic Social Media uses as they can pertain to SEO. At the time I was writing this I came across this great brief on Social Media and its effect on relevance in search: http://on.mash.to/nuDT4l

2) Set up a Google Places account and take the time to do a good job with the description and information you include. Follow the instructions on verification of your business and be sure to go back and enter the code that Google will send to you either via snail mail or by text message to your phone. Be sure to include full contact information and the days and hours of the week you are open for contact. Include a good image in your profile and be sure to show all of the areas your service is available. (There is a place to do this in the profile creation so do not bother doing it in the description)

3) Do a local search for the top 5 free business directories in your area. Check and see if Kudzu is active in your local area and if so set up a listing in its directory. To find more just type in Google “ Free Business Directories Your City” and look at each of the top ten listings and pick 5. Look especially for Directories that might be specific to your geographic area. Once again include a brief description of your business, your location and be sure to add a link back to your sites home page.

4) Sit down and put yourself in the mind of your potential client. Make a list of the top 3-5 words or phrases they will most likely type into a search engine that will lead them to your site. Take your time on this and test it yourself in several different search engines. List them in order of importance and then go look at your home page and make sure that these keywords and key phrases are repeated at least a few times on your site and most important your home page. Do not spam it up but be creative and use them wisely. Be sure that the number 1 and number 2 are done at least one time in bold text if possible without looking fake or overly deliberate.

5) Check your site home Page Title. Your title should contain between 10 and 70 characters (spaces included). Make sure your title is explicit and contains your most important keywords. Check your site Meta description. Meta descriptions allow you to influence how your web pages are described and displayed in search results. It is normally the snippet text shown in search results under your page title. Your Meta description should contain between 70 and 160 characters (spaces included).