The first thing you need to understand about the internet, is that you need to stand out to be noticed. Your website is one in millions and in order for people to be able to find you, you need to be highly ranked. So how do you accomplished this? Firstly you need to understand the key terms and process of SEO writing. Like every other strategy in the world, search engine optimizers have a process that can lead to to online success.

Step 1 – The First Analysis

First lets look at what you have to work with. Your site wants to be at the top of the rankings. You want people to be able to find you, that is why you have an online presence. In the first analysis we look at the the sites strongest and weakest points. What is drawing people to the site and where can improvements be made to get even more traffic. Your site will need have all the key aspects in order to make give you the winning edge.

Step 2 – Keywords in Action: Research and Analysis

Keywords is one of the most important tools in SEO writing. It is in placing the right amount of keywords in your sites content that will attract the right people. It is also in researching your market thoroughly in order to have the right keywords in place. Traffic can be spiked because more people are searching for the word “elephant” and you happen to mention the word in your writing. This might boost traffic, but it will not boost your sales. Key word selection is vital, but at the same time you do not want to stuff your article with keywords. Select the keywords that are most valuable and will direct the most traffic to your site.

Step 3 – Checking Out The Competition

What is business if not the constant competition between similar companies. Having a look at similar companies websites and checking out your competition could help you review your own website and give you some helpful ideas. Not knowing what your competition is doing is like fighting blindly, so get your spy gear on and check it out.

Step 4 – Site Maps and RSS Feeds

Really Simple Syndication, or commonly know RSS feeds allow the user to automatically syndicate content. It allows the user to get automatic updates form any website that they are linked to. This is a valuable tool. So is having a comprehensive site map for your website. You will need to submit both to the service provider of your choice.

Step 5 – Search engine and Directory Submissions

Each directory works on search engines. In other words if you want your site to show up on various search directories then you will need to send in a submission. You need to take advantage of search engines to make your website seen. The world wide web is very big, and sites can get very lost if they do not understand this process. Directories like Yahoo, Google and AOL are easy to use and very popular among internet users.

Step 6 – Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking is a method users use to organize and manage their resources online. This is also know as tagging and can help boost your ratings and the traffic to your site. This is not sharing the content of the sites, but works like a referral system for web users. This can be used along with other search engine optimizers to make your website more visible to the public.

Step 7 – Social Networking: Blogs and Press Releases

Social Networking is the way forward today. Most website have blogs to help direct traffic to their website. These blogs are there to share information and get people interested in the company, or business. Social networking can be very lucrative for any business, it is a quick and easy way to get your name know. Branding the name of your website and company should be a priority for any business owner. Social networking is a powerful tool, so do not underestimate the power of the social networking platforms. People rely on these platforms to give them all the latest information, so use it to show people who you are.

Step 8 – Article Submissions

Article submission can be very successful if you use it correctly. The articles will need to be rich in information and completely unique. Keywords are important, but remember not to use keywords excessively. The articles must not be very long so try to stick to about 500 word article, and add a catchy title for good measure. Readers want short article that give them the information that they want and need while keeping them entertained. SEO article are an art from in its own theses days, so play around and have a look at similar website to help give yo an idea of what is wanted.

Step 9 – Links and Popularity

Links are used to help direct traffic to your site. They are popularly used in articles and blogs to direct people to the site where the information was attained. Links are exactly what they sound like. They link people to the site that have valuable information. The site popularity is also important, the more links you can get the better. You want people to link their articles and blogs to your site. People should be able to find you easily and then want to come back to the site.

Step 10 – SERP Report

SERP reports are what keep you in the ‘know’. They are ranking reports and will help you keep track of the rise and fall of the site. With SERP reports you want daily rank tracking and progressive graphs to show you the progress of the site. This knowledge can be very important to you keeping a strong flow of visitors to the site. You want SERP reports that are branded with your label and give you white label options. This information can be used to establish what is tracing people to your site.

Keyword research is a very important aspect of marketing these days. In order to generate more traffic flow to your website you must have keywords that spark lots of hits on popular search engines such as google or yahoo and that also bring you the ‘right’ traffic. Keyword research is about choosing the words that apply to your business and that also are optimized for generating business. This research is not something that you can do once and be done with; you have to constantly test, experiment and improve on your keywords. This may all sound overwhelming to you right now, but if you take it one step at a time you will find that it is not all that complicated.

First you need to come up with some keywords for your business to test. Be creative, spend some time brainstorming and think up any and all of the keywords that a consumer might type into a search engine when looking for the services or product that you offer. This should include phrases and words that are considered both targeted and broad. What are you and your website hoping accomplish? Try to compile a list with words that explain all the products or services that your website offers. Focus on terms that are not over used but are relevant. Skip words that are overly generic such as ‘food’ or ‘clothes’. Not only are these keywords exceptionally hard to compete for, but they will not bring you high conversion rate traffic. Remember, it’s not just about getting traffic to your website, but getting the right traffic. You don’t want to get people to your website that will not be interested in what you are promoting. If you are having a hard time coming up with ideas, don’t be afraid to ask past customers or friends for help. It is helpful to get their insight on the words that they think of when they think of your website or business.

The next step in the process is to learn how to use tools for online keyword research. Don’t worry, they are not complicated. In fact, they are going to be doing most of the work for you. Keyword research tools are very helpful as they allow you to easily find out how many times a keyword is searched for and the percentage of searches that converted into sales. They may also turn you to words and synonyms that you might have forgotten or not thought of. Google Suggest and Thesaurus are good places to look up synonyms to the keywords that you already have. There are many keyword research tools out there to choose from; such as Google Adwords, Wordtracker, KeywordDiscovery, and Overture. Bear in mind while checking the popularity of a keyword you also need to find out how competitive the keyword is in terms of ranking. You know the saying “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”? That applies to keyword research. You need to understand the competition to find out how much work and effort it will take for your website to rank well using that keyword. You need to find the amount of websites that are competing for your keyword and how big and strong they are. It comes down to finding out whether or not the keyword is worth your effort. If you find that it would take more work than it’s worth, move to the next keyword on your list.

The third step in keyword research is to finalize your list of keywords. Now that your lists of keywords have been tested, you need to find out which ones you will keep on your final list. It is helpful to create a chart to show you visually the number of searches, the total conversion rate and the strength of the completion for each keyword. With the help of these three numbers you can find the keywords that are the best for your website and the ones that need to go. First pick out the keywords that are most relevant to the subject of your website. These keywords are the ones that you should keep on your list. Scrap all the words that will not bring qualified traffic. You don’t want to bring traffic to your website if they are not looking for what you are offering. You need to make a few phrases out of a combination of targeted keywords and broad terms to achieve a higher conversion rate. Using broad terms are critical to mix in with your targeted terms because they tell the consumer what is that your website offers. If your company sells tennis shoes you may think that it would be a good idea to use it broader search terms such as “shoes” and “tennis shoes”. Those words are vital as we mention earlier because they tell people what it is that you offer. But if you use the broad keywords alone, customers will come to your website not knowing exactly what kind of shoes you offer. Are they golfing shoes, basketball shoes, running shoes, soccer shoes, men’s or women’s shoes? Typically it is easier to get a better ranking through using targeted terms. They can also help make you appear to be an expert on the subject and bring more traffic through the search engines when you have a strong string of targeted keywords mixed with broad keywords. Targeted terms you could use for your shoe business may be “women’s soccer shoes”, “black running shoes”, or “men’s extra wide shoes”. When you combine the broad keywords with strong targeted ones you will find that the traffic it generates will be people who are ready to make a purchase.

After you have done all this you should have a list of 10 to 20 keywords that you can then optimize into your website content. There are a few steps to doing that so that your website is still reader friendly, but we will save that for a later time.

There are important criteria to consider when having to please both the search engines and your readers. One of the most important things you can do is to stay away from link farms and beware of unethical marketing firms. If any sort of affiliation with them is discovered, it could severely hurt your search engine rankings.

Luckily, strategies for keeping both the search engines and human visitors happy often go hand in hand. All of them, if used effectively will yield your website more visibility and more traffic.

Penguin Friendly Tips for Success
• Keep a Clean Site: This means make sure your website is free of any possible spam, malware or viruses.
• Don’t Over Use Keywords: Sometimes this is called, ‘keyword stuffing.’ When keywords are overly used, search engines think they are being manipulated.
• Avoid Low Quality Links: As mentioned earlier, paying for massive amounts of links from link farms should be avoided. Links from questionable forums and article marketing sites are no longer desirable.
• Quality is Key: Keep your content rich and informative. Readers and search engines both love to see valuable content right from the beginning of the page.