3 Simple SEO Basics You Need To Know

If you have set up your own  online business or blog I’m sure you have learned how important it is to get as much traffic as possible to your site. Whether you want people to buy a product, a service or you are looking for more authority in your niche…you need people to know you exist.   One of the best ways to get them to come running is through search engine optimization.

This week I’ll be doing a series on building your business on a budget.  Believe me…as a single mom of four I KNOW how to get what needs to be done on a strict budget…and most of the time, for free.  Come back throughout the week for more business budget tips.

What is SEO?

I’m going to start from the very basics because I know what it was like when I first started my blog and I had no clue about any of this…and I know I needed someone to help me.  Since there are so many new blogs started every day, I know there is someone out there seaarching for the same help.

SEO is the abbreviation for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of using keywords to bring targeted traffic to you. Ideally, when people enter their search keywords into any of the most popular search engines, your website content, videos and audio media should pop up in the first page of search results. That’s what everyone wants to achieve.

The better the search engine rankings the more likely you are to get buyers who are ready to spend their money on what you have to offer.  It also shows that others must like what your writing, teaching or selling because your on the front page and gives you that “she must know what she’s talking about” edge.

Should You Outsource?

You can always find courses or paid reports that teach search engine optimization. Or you can use any of the SEO firms that will gladly take your money in exchange for their help in outfitting your website for the traffic that you want. They may promise you those front page Google and Yahoo rankings within web searches to make the deal sound irresistible.

But, all of this costs money and chances are that when you’re first starting out, you don’t have much of a budget to work with. There’s always the trade off of time vs money.

3 Simple SEO Basics You Need To Know

With SEO or any new business talent, it  may take you longer, but you can learn how to do it yourself. As a student of Internet marketing, you have to be willing to do the legwork required to gain the knowledge you need. You should always learn at least the basics of anything you outsource anyway so you know if you’re getting what you pay for, right?

1. Know how to use the resources available to you.

If you don’t have any keywords in mind, you can use free online keyword tools to help you discover the viability of keywords in your niche. They will also rank them for you. Keep a spreadsheet of all the words you use so you can track how they work at increasing your visitors, sales and search engine rankings. Here are two free keyword tools you can start with:

• http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
• https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

2. Pick a keyword or two and use it on your website.

Website optimization is a bit trickier than optimizing content (we’ll get to that later). For your website, these keywords can appear in webpage headlines, picture tags, taglines, anchor text (the words that hide a hyperlink within the text of an article) and other places. When your website is registered with search engines, the bots and spiders crawl each page. You want them to find your keywords and rank accordingly.

3. Use the keywords in your content displayed on your website.

Keyword density is the number of times that a certain keyword appears in a piece of content of a certain size. Optimal keyword usage is between 1% and 3%. Going over that could be considered “stuffing” and you might get your hand slapped by Google.

Search engine optimization is trial and error. Others can do it for you for a price. But, if you are dedicated and want to increase your skillset, you can learn to use it for yourself, drive traffic to your website and increase sales.

These are very basic tips that some of you may already know…for those of you that are more advanced, what other simple tips can you share with readers? What has worked for you?  Please share your comments below.

To Your Success,

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