Turbo-charge your SEO with “campaign worthy” content

Thanks to all the readers who participated by commenting on 5“little known” Keys to Succeed at SEO.

The strategy outlined below works so well that I have decided to include it in my manifesto, The Right SEO Strategy Ahead. For those who are not familiar with the strategies listed in the manifesto, please read it first as it contains the exact strategies I will use to help you succeed in your online business.

Coming back to the topic of this post…

Have you heard the phrase “reference worthy” content? From the SEO perspective, it means creating original, informative and engaging content, and then making that content visible across relevant user, web and social communities with the purpose of attracting traffic and natural links.

The results of this SEO activity if done consistently week after week can dramatically enhance your web, link and social reputation. This in turn influences the search rankings of your select keywords.

In many of my previous posts I have highlighted the importance of creating ‘reference worthy” or “link worthy” content. In this post however, I would like to talk about “turbo charging” your content by making it “campaign worthy”.

So what is “campaign worthy” content?

It is a blog post, an article story, or a video that has the potential for maximum visibility and popularity across social bookmarking and social media sites. By popularity, I mean getting other users to vote, review or thumbs up your content.

Earlier I used to suggest promotion of your content in 10 – 15 social bookmarking sites, and then get 3 to 5 thumbs up from other users for a permanent link. Now this is still a very good SEO strategy you should continue to follow, but how about instead of 3 to 5 thumbs up we try and get 25 to 50 users to vote for your content.

By getting more users to vote for your content, the chances of your story going “hot” in the social communities will increase, and so will the traffic to your website. Search engines rank a page based on the number of quality and relevant links (one of the important metrics) to that page.

If your story goes hot, then more webmasters will link back to your story, increasing the number of natural links to that story page. Also the more hot stories you syndicate, the better will be your social reputation. This in turn will again influence your search rankings.

Ideally you should choose 1 blog post/ article/ video (or create one specifically for this purpose)which you feel has maximum potential to become a “hot story” and then run a campaign across 3 to 4 select social bookmarking sites like Stumble Upon, Digg, YouTube, Mixx for a WEEK.

This week long campaign can have a tripling effect on the traffic numbers on your site for the duration of the campaign.

The number of visitors will dwindle down once the campaign ends, which is why you need to repeat the campaign with new exciting content every month.

The Right SEO Strategy (with Revisions)

Natural Link Building, Social Media & Reputation Management

1. Be consistent in creating unique, compelling and resourceful content in the form of articles/ blog posts - 3 to 4 a WEEK.

2. Be consistent in syndication of the articles to 10 relevant and popular article submissions sites each WEEK.

3. Be consistent in promotion of the same content links across 10 to 15 relevant and popular social bookmarking sites each WEEK.

4. Be consistent in attracting 3 to 5 user thumbs up/ reviews for content posted each WEEK.

5. Be consistent in submitting one blog post/ article/ video to 3 to 4 selected social bookmarking sites and get 25 to 50 votes, reviews or thumbs up for your content. This should be a “week-long” campaign and ideally done ONCE a MONTH.

6. Be consistent in participating in 3 to 4 relevant blogs, by blog commenting and forum postings each WEEK.

7. Every MONTH be consistent in building a few industry specific links, relevant web directory links, 1 or 2 PR releases, etc.

Read more on the Right SEO Strategy Ahead…

Use the expert SEO strategies outlined above and you will be on your way to creating value, building web, link and social reputation, natural links, higher search rankings and traffic.

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The 6th Key to Succeed at SEO

If you have not read 5 “little known” Keys to Succeed at SEO, then I suggest you do that first.

For those whose comments resulted in the inspiration to write this post, I wish to thank you for your participation, and for playing along with my request.

In my last post I had mentioned the 5 Keys that will help you succeed at SEO.

1. Patience
2. Consistency
3. Persistence
4. Creativity
5. Passion

The 6th Key to Succeeding at SEO is “Purpose”

To understand “purpose” let me tell you a story about finding purpose and vision, and somewhere in this story you may stumble upon (pardon the intended pun here) your own story, your own purpose, and your own vision.

Before we embark on this journey, keep in mind before you can unlock the potential of the 6th Key you will have to unlock the first 5 Keys first - You will have to work hard to find your passion and creativity, and learn to be patient and consistent.

Incase you are wondering what “purpose” has to do with succeeding as a SEO expert, then read on …

I Lacked Vision and Purpose in Life

I started my career as an entrepreneur. If you think that is lucky, then hear me out for the remainder of this story.

Enticed with the endless possibilities of the dot com world, I ventured bravely into the unknown with my start up Web Development Company. Just out of college, I had a vision that the Internet would fulfill all my bigger than life ambitions, and desires.

And it did for the next 4 years, I grew from a 3 member team to a team of 70, the office had shifted from a room at my residence into a sprawling 4000 sq foot swanky office, my name was hailed across the national press as the youngest entrepreneur to get venture capital funding, there were clients lining up at the door, and it seemed life could not get any better.

… But is it possible that this is not what I wanted from life anymore?

Read the complete story to finding “purpose”

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What NOT to expect from your SEO expert

A lot has been written about what to expect from your SEO expert:

• Identify winning Keywords
• Optimize your Website around the chosen Keywords
• Higher Search Rankings for your Keywords
• Increase in Targeted Traffic from Search Engines
• Increase in Traffic from other Sources (Stumble Upon, Twitter, Ezinearticles, Reddit, Digg)
• Increase in Link Reputation, Social Reputation and Website Reputation
• Higher number of Quality and Relevant Natural Links (By virtue of Merit of Content)
• Advise on Creation of Content/ Articles/ Blog
• Syndication and Promotion of the Content across Article sites and Social sites
• Weekly & Monthly SEO strategy (Quality, Consistency, Participation and Relevancy)
• Analyzing (Traffic, Users etc) and Reporting (Links Built)
• Create a Value-based SEO Strategy that benefits Users/Customers
• Create a long term and sustainable SEO strategy for the success of your online business

But this post is not about that!

I decided to write something for the clients, so they can understand - "What NOT to expect from their SEO expert".

This is not an act of rebellion against my clients, or potential clients (as if I will scorn my livelihood :-), but rather an upfront observation based on client interactions over the years.

Most of these were relatively harmless questions from innocent clients, but some came from clients with strong expectations of what they thought were the roles and responsibilities of their SEO expert.

# Don’t expect the SEO expert will increase your sales

While SEO will increase the targeted traffic to your website, it cannot ensure that the user will convert to a sale. The sale depends on your product, services, rates, credibility in business, the demand and supply, and also the way they are promoted online.

But you can build metrics for calculating conversions (ROI – Return of Investment) like on a user submission of an enquiry form, or a user registration, or signing up for a newsletter etc.

# Don’t expect a new site be ranked in 2 to 3 months

I won’t beat around the bush. A new site will generally take 5 to 6 months before the selected keywords start ranking on page #1 of search results. Yes it helps if you are creating valuable content, syndicating and promoting that content, working on a blog, participate in relevant social communities and building relevant links, but that does not mean that you don’t have to cross the “time threshold”.

If you have a domain 3 years or older, it will generally be easier to start seeing results in less than 3 months. If you have already been doing quality link building and following SEO principles, and looking for enhancing your visibility and rank, then the “time threshold” can be greatly reduced.

# Don’t expect search rankings to change each week

SEO is not cause and effect. What this means is that if your SEO expert does a, b and c, then the results would be x,y and z. So don’t expect your search ranking to move up 5 places because you have done web directory submissions and social bookmarking last month. It just does not work in this way.

What you can expect is that after a period of concentrated effort (generally 3 – 4 months) you will see a quantum jump in your search rankings (sometimes even a few pages), of course depending on the competition for those keywords.

# Don’t expect search position #1, #2, #3, #4 …

Many clients ask for #1, #2, #3 rankings in search listings with a guarantee. Yes, it’s possible after a year of effort, but even then I will not give the client any guarantee. Page #1 is the ideal target I suggest. There may be times you may have to even settle for page #2 for very competitive keywords.

# Don’t expect a Guarantee

This highlights my point above. There is no guarantee possible. And if you find a company or person ready to give you a guarantee, do check as there may be a catch.

Focus on creating valuable content, syndicate that content, and promote it across relevant social, web and user communities. If you can do this consistently, you don’t need any guarantees.

# Don’t expect the SEO expert to work on Results based Remuneration

This expectation is so common that it pains me. Are there any SEO experts out there ready to sell their time, effort and network for a free ride? If so, then I have to ask them why? And maybe so should you …

# Don’t expect your SEO to design, write, program, be a webmaster …

While a SEO expert can be designer, a programmer, a marketing professional, or a webmaster, it’s not necessary for a SEO expert to have all these skills. There are skilled professionals for design and coding needs, and its best to have your SEO expert focus on SEO.

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The Right SEO Strategy Ahead (V2)

Why do you need to have an SEO Strategy?

What comes to your mind when you think of SEO; Is it link building, Meta tagging, keywords discovery, higher traffic & conversions, social bookmarking, making money online, social media, article submissions, Twitter, reputation management, web directory submissions, Google, optimization of pages, blogging …

While the SEO process includes all the elements mentioned above, what’s missing in this puzzle is how they all come together as a “focused strategy” to ensure the success of your online business.

Now there are many paths to SEO success, and all may work and show results (some temporarily), so how does one decide what’s the “right strategy” for their business?

The Right SEO Strategy for Your Business:

- Does your SEO strategy make common sense?
- Is it consistent?
- Is it immediate? Syndicate and Promote your Content
- Is it delivering “constant value” for the users?
- Can your SEO strategy be sustained over the lifetime of your business?
- Does it reflect the values and ethics of your organization?

Winning keyword strategy

• Identify winning keywords which users are using to reach your website. Check traffic potential and competition of those keywords.
  
• Finalize on 10 to 15 primary keywords with maximum traffic potential
  
• Finalize on 12 to 15 secondary keywords each Month and write articles to target those keywords as well as support the primary keywords pages on the website. These are long tail versions of the keywords.
  
• Start with targeting city centric keywords (seo expert mumbai), and after some success, move to the country centric keywords (seo expert india), and finally global keywords (seo expert).

On page optimization strategy

• Focus your pages i.e. page name, title, description, other relevant Meta tags, and the body content around a specific keyword. What this means is that you create ONE PAGE of content themed AROUND one KEYWORD you want to target, and include the keyword in your page name, title, description, and other relevant Meta tags on that page.
  
• Identify current site structure, and keyword mapping possibilities.
  
• Optimize each page of the website. Create better titles, description and tweak other relevant Meta tags for the existing pages.
  
• Set up Google Local account/ Google maps.
  
• Set up Google Analytics/ Google Webmaster (if not already done so)

I. Consistent Link Building Strategy

Weekly strategy (this is the heart of the activity)

Natural Link Building, Social Media & Reputation Management

• Be consistent in creating unique, compelling and resourceful content in the form of articles/ blog posts - 3 to 4 a WEEK. The article topics will be focused around keywords we want to target.

• Be consistent in building internal links and external links on the article pages. Internal links will be used from within the content to point to (with combinations of anchor text) another page of related information or the primary keyword pages on the website, and external links point out of your domain to other useful sites and resources. In moderation both are useful in determining the PR (Page Rank) of that page.

• Be consistent in syndication of the articles to 10 relevant and popular article submissions sites each WEEK. (Build Author Reputation, Traffic, Natural Links)

• Be consistent in promotion of the same content links across 10 – 15 relevant and popular social bookmarking sites each WEEK. (enhance Social Reputation, Traffic, Natural Links)

• Be consistent in attracting 3 to 5 user thumbs up/ reviews for same content each WEEK. (Enhance Social Reputation, Traffic, Natural Links)

• Be consistent in submitting content links to Twitter & Stumble Upon each WEEK

• Be consistent in participating in 3 to 4 relevant blogs, by blog commenting and forum postings each WEEK. (Natural Links, Website reputation/Page Rank)

• Be consistent in ALL OF THE ABOVE each WEEK

BENEFITS: Enhance Social reputation, Web reputation (Page Rank) and Link reputation (Natural and Diverse links) by participating in relevant social, user and web communities. Increase Traffic. Higher Ranking for your Keywords.

II. Campaign Based Link Building Strategy

• Be consistent in submitting one blog post/ article/ video to 3 to 4 selected social bookmarking sites and get 25 to 50 votes, reviews or thumbs up daily for your content.

• This should be a “week-long” campaign and ideally done ONCE a MONTH.

III. Progressive Link Building Strategy

Note: The links should be a combination of relevant web directory, social links, PR submissions, industry related links, blog links, comments etc.

• Be consistent in building 50 quality links for Month 1

• Be consistent in building 75 quality links for Month 2

• Be consistent in building 100 quality links for Month 3

• Be consistent in building 150 quality links for Month 4

• Be consistent in building 200 quality links for Month 5

• Be consistent in building 300 quality links for Month 6

• Month 7 Onwards we can continue to build 300 quality links each month

• Focus moves to consistent link building and campaign link building strategies

• Be consistent in monitoring site traffic, keywords performance and competition

• Be consistent in sending Report on link submissions (with PR) & traffic analysis report each MONTH

• Be consistent in “adding user value” for the users in way of innovative and entertaining content ideas, quizzes, tools, podcasts and videos.

BENEFITS: Build quality links from diverse web, user and social communities.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES FROM YOUR SEO STRATEGY

• Page #1 results for 70 % of the selected city centric keywords in 4 months
• Page #1 results for 70 % of the selected county centric keywords within 6 months
• Increase Traffic sources from Stumble Upon, Twitter, Article Sites, Social media sites
• Increase traffic from Search engines (Google & Yahoo primarily, MSN)
• Increase conversions to the website & increase ROI

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Be Consistent, Be Immediate, Be Successful at SEO

The online business model is changing the way we do business in the 20th century. The search engines played a big part in bringing about this change, enabling millions of users to have access to real time information on news, products, services, businesses, entertainment and people. This presented smart entrepreneurs with an opportunity to sell products and services, information and entertainment, in a way that would never have been possible with traditional business models.

SEO too has seen many changes over the decade, and much to my surprise is still veiled in secrecy and confusion as to the standards and values that are applicable for the success of your online business and brand. In my previous posts – What I have learnt about SEO so far, and Seperating SEO Myths and Reality, I had covered some very important misconceptions about SEO and Lessons learnt. It will help you get bigger picture before I delve deeper into the not-so -known “value” attributes that search engines are paying more and more attention too.

What differentiates one SEO professional from another? if both could help you achieve search rankings in the same time, at the same rate? The answer lies in the “value” that’s being created for the users.

Your online business is a reflection of your values and business ethics. And in delivering consistent “value” your online business is on a path of success.

BE CONSISTENT

1. Be consistent in creating unique, compelling and resourceful content in the form of articles/ blog posts - 3 to 4 a WEEK.

2. Be consistent in syndication of the same to 10 – 15 relevant and popular article submissions sites a WEEK (Build Author Reputation, Traffic, Natural Links).

3. Be consistent in promotion of the same content links across 10 – 15 relevant and popular social bookmarking sites a WEEK (enhance Social Reputation, Traffic, Natural Links).

4. Be consistent in attracting 3 to 5 user thumbs up/ reviews for same content each WEEK(enhance Social Reputation, Traffic, Natural Links).

5. Be consistent in participating in 3 to 4 relevant blogs, by blog commenting and forum postings each WEEK.

6. Be consistent in ALL OF THE ABOVE each WEEK

BENEFITS: Enhance Social, Web (Page Rank) and Link (Natural and Diverse links) Reputation by participating in relevant social, user and web communities. Increase Traffic. Higher Ranking for your Keywords.

BE IMMEDIATE

1. Be immediate in syndication of your 3 – 4 articles to the selected and relevant article submision sites.

2. Be immediate in promoting the same articles to select and relevant social bookmarking sites.

3. Be immediate in posting the link to Twitter, and Stumble Upon

BENEFITS: Faster delivery of your content/brand/message across relevant channels. There is no news lie fresh news.

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Separating SEO Myths from Reality

SEO has been around for a decade, and is still somehow lost behind veils of myths and secrecy. I am here to remove the sugar coating that surrounds SEO.

The Faith Myth

If I build it (a website), they will come? The answer to that is NO. If you create unique content, actively syndicate and promote that content to selected sites, and participate in social, web and user communities – Then they will come.

Do I need a SEO guru? The answer to that is NO. Anyone who claims to be a Guru is a normal person with SEO knowledge, but he likes to flaunt it to people who don’t know anything about SEO.

Do I need a Technological Wizard? The answer to that is another NO. SEO is based on online branding, marketing and selling strategies, and is not a programming code. Yes, a good website needs a tech wizard for other things, but that will not help with search rankings.

Do I need an in-house SEO expert? The answer is YES, if you have the budget to hire the “Best”. But if you don’t have the budget you can outsource to a SEO expert at half the cost (minus the employee benefits).

Do I need a top SEO company? Working with a company has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advance is that a team of SEO’s will be working on your project. The main disadvantage is that the team of SEO’s working on your project will probably have just 1 to 2 years of experience. SEO is more about creating constant value for your users, following your intuitions, and keeping a look out for opportunities. Will this company be attentive to these?

Do I need a Link Builder? The answer to that is NO. Amazed! The era of paid link building, reciprocal linking, and link building requests is OVER. Natural link building is based on the merit on your content, and syndicating and promoting your content on relevant and popular web, user and social communities.

What you need is a SEO expert who is a willing partner with your online success, can assist build a long term SEO / SEM strategy, and take responsibility for the success and failures. It’s a journey to your online success, so partner with someone who is willing to go the distance.

The Rate Myth

Are all SEO services the same? NO they are not. While the foundations principles remain, each SEO expert follows their own process to higher rankings based on their own unique experiences and knowledge. It’s a case of many roads all leading to one. Ask the SEO expert to explain his strategy. If it does not sound like common sense to you, it’s probably nonsense.

Hiring a SEO expert is expensive? YES they are expensive, but not as much as the “Losses” you are making right now because your competitors are stealing your business.

Cheap SEO services are cheap? NO it’s not necessary. It’s not about the price, it’s about value. A SEO expert who is constantly dedicated to creating value for the users, and actively promoting your products/ services across diverse web, user and social communities is bound to succeed.

What you need is to “outsource” to a SEO expert who can “be part” of your core online team. Get the best of both worlds. Find a SEO expert who is ready to work on a fixed monthly remuneration (plus some nice bonus), and if he/she is good, then don’t let go.

The Time Myth

Is 6 months enough for SEO? The answer is NO. Do you plan to be in business for 6 months only? I though not. Then SEO and Internet Marketing needs to be a part of your core marketing activities till the time you plan to be in business.

Is 3 to 4 months enough to see results? The answer is NO. The reason is search engines are now valuing consistency and quality over a period of time. In 3 to 4 months you will become a serious contender in the search rankings but emerging a winner (convert your traffic into leads and orders) can take 6 months to a year depending on the keywords and the competition.

The faster I build links the better? Speed is not the key here, its consistency that’s the new mantra. Are 500 web directory submissions in 15 days better than say 30 to 40 high quality web directory submissions every month? The answer to that is NO.

What you need is to implement a long term SEO strategy, implemented “Weekly”. Create resourceful, unique and informative content EACH WEEK, syndicate to selected 10 to 15 popular article sites EACH WEEK, promote across 10 – 15 relevant social media and bookmarking sites EACH WEEK, and participate in relevant social, web and user communities EACH WEEK.

The Link Myth

I have to pay, beg or trick for links? The answer to that is NO. The days of paid links (unless they are part of a PPC or advertising campaign), reciprocal links and requesting for links are OVER. Natural link building is actively syndicating and promoting your content so that these communities that you participate in link back to your content. These links are based on merit, and are highly valued. In the near future I predict that these may the only links that matter.

Is quantity of links the King? NO, it’s quality and diversity of links that’s King. Quality means that credible and relevant websites are linking to your content as they see value in it for their users. Diversity means that it’s better to build a healthy matrix of links from diverse websites (web directories, article submissions, social bookmarking, social media and networking etc) all pointing back to your content, than build thousands of links from say only article sites, or only web directories.

What you need is a link strategy that actively encourages the creation of unique content, and then actively promoting and syndication of that content across relevant user, web and social communities. This is a weekly exercise. Other than this create a healthy mix of links from web directories, article sites, social bookmarking sites, education (.edu, .org) sites, PR releases, relevant sites/ blogs, industry sites, blog reviews etc.

The Traffic Myth

Is Traffic = Conversions? The answer is NO. There are various ways to get targeted traffic to your website, but to convert a visitor to a customer requires innovative design, content, services, products, rates, service and business sense. Did I just forget to put in SEO in the list?

All traffic is good? The answer is NO. Surprised! To target traffic means to target a keyword. To target a keyword means “time” and “effort” to focus on targeting that keyword. If you create highly targeted keywords then you get targeted traffic. So traffic from keywords that don’t synergize with your product, information or service is useless, so are keywords that don’t lead to a sale.

What you need is to identify keywords that will translate into customers. Each keyword had separate competition and traffic potential, and you have to build links to each of these keyword pages. Identify keywords will lesser competition yet higher traffic potential. Start with local keywords (local traffic), then country specific keywords before you try for global keywords. As you attain success with each keyword (on page #1 of search rankings) you will create a funnel of traffic to your website.

The Ranking Myth

I want # 1 ranking for my keywords? Good for you, but it’s not possible for anyone to guarantee #1 rankings unless they own the search engine. Set goals for Page #1 rankings for your keywords. It is wise to start with city centric keywords and after success, move to country specific keywords, and then capture the global keywords.

My new site will rank because I am ready to pay? The answer to this is NO. Search engines value sites that have been in business for long, and those that intend to be in business for long. A new site will take 6 months to start ranking well in search listings, but that does not mean you cannot start getting business for your new website via PPC, Adwords, and banner ads etc till then.

My SEO efforts and should translate into steady rise of my keywords in Search rankings? I agree it seems reasonable to expect that after 2 months of SEO effort you would see a steady rise in the search listings, but it does not work that way. Search engines update their listings every 2 – 3 months. What you will notice however is a quantum leap after you have been showing consistency in building user value, and building quality links.

What you need is to FOCUS on being consistent with creation of quality content, and syndication and promotion of that content, including other link building opportunities that may arise. Don’t worry about rankings, if you build a strong SEO strategy that’s implemented week to week, then your keywords will find way to page #1, and stay there …

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How much time is SEO time?

This is one question from the clients that almost makes liars of most of us SEO experts. Why? Because we know that SEO takes time, patience and perseverance, and a client with a wallet full of Greens a business full of Dreams (pardon the poetry here) expects to see his money work for him immediately.

The pitch “In the next 6 months to a year we will build a strong foundation for your online business using on-page and natural link building strategies, create content and syndicate content that your users will love, cultivate a buzz about your brand, product and services, target keywords that will translate into conversions, and bring in new customers” is loved by most clients except the 6 months part.

The problem I feel lies in the misconception that SEO is an easy and fast, money making devise. If that were the case, all us SEO experts would be rich – now wouldn’t we? SEO is not about making money online. That is just the after-effect of executing a well planned and researched SEO/SEM strategy over a period of time. Consistency it seems is soon becoming the most valuable ace card up search engines sleeves.

Many clients come to us when they fail to create a successful online business, or are starting a new website, or want to grow their online business further and don’t know how to do it. SEO and SEM then becomes a beacon of hope for the future of their business. While that is good, it also becomes a cause for higher expectations from the clients in terms of time to deliver.

Here is how one conversation with an eager client went:

Client: It all sounds great, except the time you mentioned. I need results in 2 to 3 months. Can you not put in more efforts and reduce the time, or hire another 2 people to help you. I could even pay you more.

SEO expert: I understand your need for speed. But a successful SEO strategy shows results only after a few months of consistent effort, creating value for your users, and participation in relevant web, user and social communities. It’s the search engines way to deter websites that feel that they can walk right in, and become top dogs by using some secret SEO techniques, or spending a whole lot of money.

Client: I see what you are saying, but still let’s get the time down to 4 months. Six months is too long a time, and who has seen what happens in six months. I could be out of business by then :)

SEO expert: That’s the same reason why search engines are valuing consistent effort, quality content, and websites that are going to be around for a long time. We need to build your online reputation, link reputation and social reputation, and not just speed through to the higher rankings bit.

Client: Ok, I get it. You tell me what all is possible in 4 months, and after that we can evaluate and take things further. I am sure there will some results to show for in 4 months.

SEO expert: Definitely there will be many measurable results. Let do it for 4 months, and then we can plan ahead…

Incidentally, this client is still one of my best customers over the years.

So did I lie about the 6 months in the first place, or did I just give-in to the clients demands for doing it in lesser time? It was neither.

What I did was start a relationship with the client, teach him about SEO along the way, assist him in creating value for his potential customers, and helped him build a successful ongoing weekly SEO strategy that constantly adds value for his users, increases brand awareness and recall, promotes his products and services, drives in new customers every day, and increases his business profits every quarter.

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What I have learnt about SEO so far!

Hi friends, I run a successful SEO/SEM consultancy with clients across the globe, mentor and share my experiences with Internet marketing strategies in my Zen of SEO Blog, and assist individuals and companies run successful online businesses.

I have highlighted my rankings below, not as an example of what a top notch cool SEO guy I am, but rather, as a benchmark of a journey that took a year to accomplish, and the core lessons I learnt.

My website (www.seo-optimization-experts.com) ranks in Google:

# 1 for the keyword seo expert mumbai (No #1 spot for past 6 months)
#4 for the keyword seo experts in india (4 lac competing links)
# 7 for the keyword seo expert india (4.5 lac competing links from SEO’s and SEO companies in India)

My Blog (www.seo-optimization-experts.com/seoblog.html) ranks in Google:

# 2 for the keyword seo expert mumbai

It’s been an exciting journey since I started my SEO Expert Consultancy Company about a year ago. There were many lessons learnt and strategies that worked that I have been sharing with all my readers in my blog posts over the past year, and I thought I would compile all my posts into one not-too-long neat post which shares - What I have Learnt about SEO So Far.

Naturally I can’t cover everything in one blog post, but I have covered the most important aspects of my understanding of SEO.

Naming your business

Its best to include your primary keyword in your domain name, but if you have a built brand, or a well known business, you should use the domain for your brand or company.

Don’t have too many hyphens in your domain (it’s a mistake I had made by keeping a long domain www.seo-optimization-experts.com, and I guess I will have to live with it), it’s better to keep www.seooptimizationexperts.com, in case a smaller domain name was unavailable.

Keep away from using underscore ( _ ) in your domain name or page namesEg. www.xyz.com/seo_services_company.html

If you can’t have your keywords in your domain name, another technique is to include your keyword by creating sub domains. Eg. mumbai.seo-optimization-experts.com to target by location, or ppc.seo-optimization-experts.com to target a new pay-per-click service. Use sub domains for 3 – 4 important keywords you want to target, and don’t overdo it by creating sub domains for every keyword in your list.

In the beginning there was a word – it was called a Keyword.

Keywords are the foundation of your online business. It all begins with selecting the right keywords for your business. The on-page optimization, the content creation and all future link building campaigns will stem from the keywords you select.

There are various statistical and analytic tools available on the net for keyword suggestions, and many of them are free, so use them. Keywords discovery is based on hard facts, trends, and history of performance of the keyword; it’s not an estimated guess!

Don’t underestimate the competition. Analyzing your competition for keywords they use or don’t use is a step you don’t want to miss. If your competition is on page # 1, they must be doing something right.

Don’t fight the big boys. No matter how hard you are willing to work, or pay a SEO expert to do that work for you, it will take time, patience and money to go after the big keywords. Set optimistic goals and start with keywords that have lesser competition, and yet good traffic potential. These types of keywords can be researched into, also called long tail keywords; they can be identified once you understand how your potential customers search for information on a product or service like yours. Eg. Create keyword centric topics – articles, blog posts, how-to guides, FAQ’s etc.

Start with city centric keywords. It makes sense to start with keyword combinations that include your city of business Eg. Seo expert mumbai. Once your keywords are ranking well in your city, it’s time to expand your business with country specific keywords Eg. seo expert india. And finally you can go after the BIG global keywords!

Start with keywords that are local. General keywords (eg. seo expert) get a lot of traffic, but they are difficult to rank for, so start with your city (eg. seo expert mumbai), and work your way to country (eg. seo expert india). With time, consistency and patience, the bigger traffic pullers can get targeted.

Start with targeting easier keywords with good traffic potential. You will see faster results on your site and it becomes motivation to go after the more difficult keywords. Even an extra character like ‘a’ in your keyword will have different competition and rankings in search listings.
Test-drive your keywords. Run a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaign for 15 days to a month and see which keywords are being searched for, their performance history, and titles and descriptions that work with your customers. This helps identify the winning keywords you should be targeting on your website, plus getting the extra traffic and business can be quite a high.
Each keyword or keyword phrase is a traffic funnel to your website, and keywords on page # 1 of search engine results have a higher chance of getting clicked. There are always “more keywords” you can target, you have just not looked deeply enough.

Meta-Tagging. When is it enough to say enough!

No matter what one says, it’s important to focus your pages i.e. page name, title, desc, other relevant Meta tags, and the body content around a specific keyword. What this means is that you create ONE PAGE of content themed AROUND one KEYWORD you want to target, and include the keyword in your page name, title, description, and other relevant Meta tags on that page.

Well that makes sense, considering that each keyword will need to be targeted separately, each keyword will have different competition, and links will have to build to target each keyword page.

In the body content of the page, write for the reader only and not for the search engines. If you are writing about a particular topic in focus, the keyword will be included naturally into your sentences in any case, if you can write well. The emphasis is on ‘natural’ writing, and NOT seo writing (if such a word exists). Don’t stuff your keyword in Meta tags and body content. It should all make sense to your potential customer when reading your title, description and body content.

Other than title, description, keyword, headings (hi, h2, h3) and link text, there are NO other Meta tags of relevance. Remove all irrelevant Meta tags. Keep title tag around 60 characters, and the description tag around 100 characters. Short and simple copy works best.

Creating Content that Attracts

There is content that’s created for your website - listing your services, products, infrastructure, contact details, post jobs etc. This is important to brand your company, sell your services/products, introduce the team, and give information to potential clients on how to get in touch with your company.

And then there is content for the purposes of educating and informing your users about developments in the industry/business you operate in, product tips, FAQ’s, How To guides etc . You can post the content in the form of articles, or blog posts, or new content pages on your site. This kind of content is informative, useful and is liked by users and search engines alike.
The content created should be focused around keyword phrases you want to target. Eg. How to hire a seo expert.

Use content for creating internal links and external links. Internal links should be used from within the content to point to (anchor text) another page of related information, and external links point out of your domain to other useful sites and resources. Internal linking also works well when you link from pages with good page rank to pages that don’t have page rank.

On average create 3 – 4 articles, or blog posts a week. This content should then be syndicated to selected article submission sites, and promoted across selected social bookmarking and networking sites to build quality natural links.

If you can create innovative and useful Video content and submit to sites like YouTube, you will have an edge over your competitors. Don’t make dull, poor quality, badly edited or lengthy videos! If your videos are not generating traffic, then rethink your content and presentation. Try one video at a time and learn from your mistakes.

The Link Building Matrix (Reloaded)

The search engines are becoming smarter by the hour. Link building was always an important parameter for search engines to understand the value of your content, and will always be. But, due to good reasons, search engines now give more value to those links that come from relevant, credible and popular sites, and links that are gained on the merit of your content.

No link exchanges, no reciprocal links (unless it’s between two mature and relevant sites), no paid links (unless they are part of pay-per-click campaign, or part of your advertising on other sites).

Get links from diverse and relevant web, user and social communities that you are participating actively in. A healthy matrix of quality and diverse links includes web directory submissions, article submissions, social bookmarking and networking, video submissions, PR submissions, blogs reviews and commenting, participating in forums, Yahoo answers, submitting how to guides etc.

Directory Submissions – To Pay or Not to Pay

When I first start link building for a new client, I always start with getting a few good quality links from selected web directories with high page rank (PR 3 above).

With many free high page rank directories on the web, you can create your business listing and submit to these directories for no cost. Expect little or no traffic from these sites, but the links they give you back are good for your rankings.

There are few good paid directories. If you have a budget of 400 $ (Yahoo directory included), then go for paid directories, otherwise focus on other link building techniques. You may get some traffic from paid directory sites especially Yahoo, but the link back is permanent.

Post to around 100 good web directories every two months. Build a portfolio of good quality web directory links over time. All submissions are to be made manually to web directories managed by human editors. A good web directory takes 10 to 15 days to verify a submission, though its not the only factor to concider.

Don’t try and complete your directory submissions quota in one sitting (i.e. 600 directories at one time). It’s not about reaching a number or completing a target, but building quality links consistently over time.

Article Submissions – The power of Syndication

Articles submission sites are my favorite for increased traffic, reputation and for building quality links to a website I am working on. Generally once you write content for the web, you cannot use that content any place else on the web, else it will be caught by the duplicate content filter of search engines. But submitting your content to article sites is not treated as duplicate content.

Write once and syndicate to 10 to 15 popular and relevant article sites with high page rank. This number works best as you can build your personal reputation as an expert author, increase traffic to your website (I get good traffic and referrals from Ezines), and build links from these sites.

First submit the article (3 – 4 a week works best) or blog post to your own website. Then consistently submit your articles to top and relevant article submission sites over a period of time, and building your credibility as an author on the topics or industry you are writing about.

Blogging – Start Talking

If you can’t write, don’t have anything interesting and unique to talk about, and don’t want to learn what your readers like, then hire someone who can!

Start a blog only if you plan to continue writing and building content. Working hard to write great content and promoting your blog is going to be hard work. If you plan to stop creating informative, unique and entertaining content after 6 months, don’t bother starting (especially with SEO in mind).

Blogs and blog posts (your content) get ranked much faster by search engines. It’s a proven fact. But unless your content is good enough to excite webmasters (who actively search blogs, RSS feeds, article sites and social sites for the latest buzz) to link back to your content, the ranking won’t be maintained.

Make each blog post count. Once you post on your blog, syndicate that content to article sites and promote across social bookmarking and networking sites for maximum leverage of your content.

Innovative corporate blogs are doing better at generating traffic than their websites. But don’t expect your blog to generate business for you in the short term. It takes time and patience to develop a voice that can sell your ideas to your readers.

Social Media – Start Listening & Bookmarking

People are talking right now about your brand, your services and your products online, whether you are listening or not does not matter. Either you can participate in this conversation, or hope that ignorance is really bliss.

“I need information now” is the new mantra of people, and the popularity of sites like Twitter, Yahoo Answers, Facebook is backed by the fact that these social platforms allow users to communicate, share and receive information faster.

You create content (articles or blog posts) and post it on your website. Then you syndicate that content to selected article sites. The next step is to promote your content across social bookmarking and networking sites.

Select 10 – 15 social bookmarking sites and consistently submit your content each week to these selected sites. Participation is the key here. It’s not good enough to post your content or link and hope for the best, you have get reviews or “thumbs up” for your content. Get atleast 3 – 4 thumbs up or reviews for all your postings for maximum leverage.

If you feel I have missed out on anything important then do send in your comments.

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Your online brand reputation matter! And how to tackle negative publicity

We work hard to run an honest business and build a good brand, but there will be times when even the most sincere brands will face a disgrunted and unsatisfied customer.

In the olden days this customer would write angry letters to the CEO, and spread the bad word about your brand and services through his network of friends and peers. The damage they could do as an individual was relatively low.

Today, this customer can easily start a negative blog about your company (e.g. yourbrand.blogspot.com), or initiate a new topic on a public forum to trash your brand, and even use the services of online customer complaint websites like http://www.ripoffreport.com/, http://www.complaintsboard.com/ to hit you where it hurts most.

Now, not all negative publicity starts with the customer, your brand could easily be a victim of a brand-hijacking or spam attack orchestrated by your competitor to drag your goodwill down the drain.

Either way, your brand image and reputation online is at stake here.

How does this affect my brand?

Today online buyers of products, services or information, often search for your brand name to check for negative reports and previous complaints before deciding to do business with you. So when a potential customer is searching for your brand, other than finding your website, he will find the negative branding and complaints as well listed on the search results page.

Search engines give a lot of ranking prominence to complaints, and to sites like ripoffreport.com etc to protect their users from the many fraudulent brands and ill-managed companies online. Since these complaint sites have a high page rank and reputation, they are often misused and can cause damage to your brand reputation.

An easy way to check if your brand is under “attack” is to type your brand name, or brand name.com in the search box and see the results. You can also track your brand reputation by setting up a Google Alert for your brand name/s, so when there is any news about your brand, you get the information immediately, and can take corrective action.

What to do when facing negative publicity? Is preparation is better than cure

1. Assuming you are a sincere company, first always try to talk to the customer and see if you can sort out the problem, even if the customer has already been taking extra effort to spoil your brand reputation. Something it’s as simple as listening to your customer’s complaints and trying to resolve them can make the bad publicity go away like a bad dream. Plus you have a happy customer now, who will be more than eager to retract their negative comments from their personal blog, public forum or complaints sites.

2. If the customer is not responding to your requests to make peace, then try and reduce the affect of the negative comments by telling your side of the story, with a little peace offering (discount coupon, gift certificate etc) for the irritate customer. Other users will see this as a positive thing – that your brand is willing to take an extra step to resolve issues with unhappy customers.

3. Sometimes you can’t please everyone no matter how hard you try, and it’s time to take corrective measures immediately. “The best way to beat negative publicity is to increase the positive publicity”.

4. Get your happy customers to give you a testimonial, and display the testimonials on your website and blog. People always say good things and bad things about any brand; the idea is to get more of the good stuff visible for other potential customers to see.

5. Creating great content that can rank highly will surely push the negative stuff further down the search listings.

6. Participate by writing on prominent article submissions sites like ezinearticles, articlesbase, goarticles etc. Create an account with your company name, and give your company profile in the space for author, and a neat link back to your website.

7. Build your social reputation by promoting your content across social bookmarking sites like dig, delicious, propeller, reddit, folkd, furl it, blink list etc.

8. Release some good PR using prominent PR submissions sites like PrWeb, and get your brand name in the title of the press releases. In addition if a journalist picks up your press release for his publication, that’s a ton of positive publicity right there.

9. Create mini-brands for your brand by creating your company profiles on websites like hubpages, squidoo, aboutus, wiki, facebook, twitter etc and participating actively in these communities.

10. Start a corporate blog. Other than search engines loving you for your content, you can use the blog to spread the good word about your company, while offering other useful information. Ask you existing customers to take a satisfaction poll on the blog?

11. Create innovative videos of your promos, how to resources, training videos etc and submit to sites like YouTube. If you videos become popular, then your brand becomes popular.

12. Hire an Expert SEO, or a SEO company thats has the experience and understanding to manage your brand reputataion online.

13. Preparation is better than Cure. Even if your brand is safe right now from negative attacks, don’t wait till it happens. Use the ideas listed above to build a better brand and a stronger brand online. Start today!

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Are your keywords attracting window shoppers or prospective buyers?

If you are ready to take an honest look at your traffic and analyze the same, many of you may find that you are attracting more shoppers to your website than prospective buyers. What this means is that even though you are getting good traffic on your website (and assuming your content copy and services have been well presented), a very few are converting to actual sales.

If you have a website that’s not selling anything, and traffic is your goal, then there is no problem. But if online sales are the goal of your website, then the problem could lie in the “keywords” you have selected.

A shopper - is one who finds you because they are looking for some information, but they may not be ready to buy as of yet. A shopper generally uses generic search terms like ‘cameras’ or ‘new cameras’ because they are not exactly sure of what they want, but are interested in knowing some more information. Now, not all shoppers are bad, because even though they may be just looking now, they could get interested in what you offer or return at a later date as a prospective customer.

Eg. Kate is interested in buying a camera, but is not sure which one to buy, or what features she wants. Kate uses a generic search term like ‘cameras’ or ‘new cameras’ and finds thousands of listings right from the definition of camera, to an online shop selling cameras, to a site selling used cameras, to a site offering user camera reviews, to a blog by a photography enthusiast, and even a YouTube video about the best camera one can buy. Kate browses through many websites to find more information so that eventually she can make an informed decision.

Now if your website was selling cameras, and you rank well for the keywords Kate used, then Kate would have visited your website, and the website offering user reviews on best cameras, and an eBay link for camera for sale... By the time Kate would have decided on which camera to buy, and what features she likes most, you have lost a customer today.

A buyer – is one who reaches your site because they are looking for something specific, and they enter a specific keyword phrase to find the product, service or information they are looking for. A buyer generally uses specific search terms like ‘seo expert india’ or ‘affordable internet marketing services’ or ‘how to hire a seo expert’ or ‘free seo training’ to find something they want. The buyer searches are a lot more specific, often with key modifiers like affordable, cheap, free, best, or location like mumbai, india to narrow the search to find what they are exactly looking for. The need of the buyer is more urgent (it reflects in the specific search phrase they use) and the chances of conversion of this user can be high if the page that opens can resolve the buyers specific query.

Eg. Kate wants more traffic on her website that sells designer shoes online. Kate wants to find a seo expert that can help her achieve this. Kate also has a very low budget and wants to read up some information on search engine optimization so that she would be in a better position to choose the right seo expert for her business. Kate’s needs are very specific. Say she enters ‘how to hire a seo expert’ in the search box, and finds a link to an article on your website that offers tips to evaluate the right seo expert. She finds the information very useful, and finds her way to your seo services page and order form. Kate could also have entered ‘seo expert in india’ if she was looking to outsource her seo needs to India (since she had heard that outsourcing to India is affordable and that is one of her requirements). Since the buyer reaches your website with a specific need in mind, and has entered a specific keyword phrase to reach you, and your page resolves that buyers query, the chances of sale conversion are high.

If you notice the differentiator between the shopper and the buyer is the search phrase they used. The shopper used a shorter keyword (one word, two word phrases), while the buyer used longer phrases (three word to five word phrases).

A common SEO saying - shorter keywords are the shoppers and longer keywords are the buyers. And this makes sense when you understand the different needs of both these segments and how they search for you.

How does this affect your keyword strategy?

Many online businesses make the mistake of putting all their attention on the competitive two word keywords. These keywords have high traffic volumes and that seems to be a great incentive. But generic keywords or short keywords are invariably highly competitive, take a lot more time and money to rank well, and attracts mostly shoppers who are just looking. Also keep in mind is that the leads that come via the generic or two word phrases are not really qualified for sale. This could mean you are investing more time, money and resources in targeting keywords that are not bringing in the conversions.

It’s the longer keywords (three word to five word) that will get you qualified leads and targeted traffic. Longer keywords don’t have that much competition (and are easier to rank) and you can always create new variations using key modifiers like location, price, model number, brand name etc. A good seo strategy starts by targeting the long tails of the keywords first, and then moving on to those competitive short keywords.

Who do you prefer visiting your website, prospective shoppers or buyers?

If it’s primarily traffic you want for your website then focus your website around one or two short primary keywords, and build many quality links to those pages that are focused around your primary keywords.

But if getting more business if what you want, then the opportunity lies in the longer keyword phrases (even the seemingly strange ones) and you will need to change your current seo strategy to identify and rank well for those longer versions of keyword, and build links accordingly.

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How to win at SEO amidst strong competition

Are you tired of seeing you competitor’s links on the first page of search results, while your website on the other hand is flailing behind somewhere on Page 11 or 18?

Are your competitors stealing your traffic? And if they are, are you ready to fight back?

Does your SEO expert shy away from targeting keywords which face stiff competition? And offers no viable strategy to combat the same?

The reasons for this could be many.

A few key ones that came to mind are listed below:

1. Yours is a new website (or new domain)

Websites with new domains generally have a hard time getting indexed and ranked in search engines. The reason for this is that search engines do consider the age of the domain as an important factor while calculating rankings. Even in the real word if someone has been in the business for a year, they will have more credibility than a startup.

What to do about it? Well prove it to the search engine that you are credible (don’t forget on-page optimization) by creating fantastic content (search engine friendly content) and then syndicating that content across popular user, web and social communities. If other websites and users deem your website/ content as of value, eventually so will the search engines.

Stat a blog! Yes, it’s an easy way to get noticed by search engines in a short span of time. Search engines love blogs, and so should you! Update your blog frequently with interesting and informative content, and use your blog to create relevant links back (with proper anchor text) to your primary keyword pages. Don’t forget to promote your blog across blog search engines, and blog directories.

Write articles! This is a great way to build credibility, popularity and quality link backs without the fear of getting trapped by the duplicate content filter. Write articles that are focused around topics/ keywords you want to target. Write your article to resolve the query of the user who typed in that keyword to find something they were looking for. Promote your articles by posting them on your site or blog first, and then syndicating them to various popular and credible article submission sites.

Find long tail keywords! You may think you know your business, products, services and customers dam well, but that still does not ensure you any traffic. There are keywords (and keyword combinations) that people are using right now that you may be unaware off. Spend maximum time in finding the right keywords, tweaking those pages around the keywords (keyword placement), and in analyzing the traffic potential of those keywords. Expert SEO’s use various projection tools, analysis, statistical and research tools to do this.

Make a creative video! Wondering how to get a traffic and ranking boost with the least effort? Make a creative and innovative video, post it on your website or blog, and then syndicate to popular video submission sites like YouTube. If this sounds easy, it is, you just need to know how to optimize your video content for search friendliness. Keep in mind this is not an alternative to good on-page optimization, and quality link building.

Build those links! This is the most important aspect of getting higher rankings for your select keywords. If you have a new domain, start with building links across popular web directories and announce your new website/product/service using online PR network services. It’s the easiest way to start building some good links. In parallel you can use social networking and bookmarking to spread the good word through friends and colleagues. Join communities and forums that are relevant to your business and industry, and participate in them. Comment on relevant blogs.

Find sites that are relevant to your business and market, and request for links with your relevant anchor text. It is important to have a healthy mix of social, user and web communities in your link building matrix. Creating great content that other webmasters will want to link back is the best form of link baiting. Don’t participate in link exchange, reciprocal linking and automated linking exchanges.

Syndicate all the original content! All your hard work needs to be syndicated to select article and video submissions sites depending on the type of content, and then promoted to user and social communities by tagging your content link across social bookmarking sites. This will not only give you good links back to your content, but also enable you to reach out to new users across user, web and social communities.

Submit your sitemap to Google, Yahoo and MSN. These are the top search engines, and submitting your sitemap is like introducing your website to the search engines and inviting them to come visit your online home.

Go Local! Start with your locality, your city, country and then go global. Like any good business expansion plan it works well to start from where you are right now. Get listed in online local directories, yellow pages, Craigs list (work well too) etc. List your business with Google local business listings, Google maps, Yahoo local, MSN local etc.

2. You have purchased an old domain for a new website, but it’s not helping you getting ranked faster or higher

You have been smart about your online business. Maybe you heard that it’s better to buy an older domain, or you had a domain name in mind and paid big bucks for it without knowing why, it does not matter. But the age of the domain does matter to search engines.

For seo purposes, it’s better to have an older domain to work with. The search engines look at the age of domain as one of the factors while calculating the credibility of the website.

Having said that you will still need to do all the above things mentioned in point 1 to get higher rankings.

3. The competition is very strong for the keywords you have selected

What if you find yourself facing very strong competition for the keywords you selected, and your top competition is beating you by thousands of back links. We know that building quality links is time consuming and building thousands of quality links can take some time. So what can one do if you don’t have the time or the budget to compete with existing competition?

Create a seo strategy! Many online business owners don’t realize that seo or search engine optimization needs a strategy to work well. “Hey, I am putting up great content, have a great list of keywords, have optimized my pages, and am building the links”. Yes, it’s true that in doing these things you will stand a better chance at ranking well for your keywords. But what if your competition has spent years building content and links?

A basic seo strategy when the number of competing links is very high, and your competitor site has thousands of back links linking to it:

1. Identify 2 primary keywords that have max relevance, best traffic and least competition.

2. Optimize your home page and services/product page (any other key page would do as well)
around the primary keywords.

3. Identify 10 – 15 secondary keywords that are three-word, four-word long tails that are
extensions of the primary keywords (Eg. “How to Hire a SEO Expert” could be an article,
and ‘SEO expert’ is one of my primary keywords).

4. Write articles focused around your secondary keywords. Search engines prefer to send a user to a content page that’s useful, informative and resourceful rather than a services or products page that’s selling something to the user.

5. Optimize your article pages around secondary keywords. Each article is written around ONE secondary keyword you are targeting, and the page name, title, description, keyword and other relevant Meta tags are optimized around that keyword.

6. Create links from your article pages to the pages which are focused around your primary keywords using proper anchor text.

7. Syndicate the articles to article submissions sites, and create link back using “primary keyword” as the anchor text.

8. Focus your link building campaign (web directories, forums, social bookmarking etc) around the primary keywords ONLY, and build links from various popular web, user and social communities. In this way you will not dilute your link building campaign.

9. The idea is to build as many quality links back from these communities with the anchor text as the primary keywords you are focusing on. When search engine spiders will see the anchor text as used by popular web, user, and social communities to describe your website and your services, and then compare it with your optimized page (that’s focuses around that specific keyword), it will give you a good boost in rankings for your primary keywords.

4. You have not identified the right keywords (with traffic potential)

And I am not talking about ones you copied of your competitors website or smartly guessed. Keywords are based on pure factual data, charts, and analysis of keyword/user behavior and trends across search engines which are computed using projection tools, analysis tools, research tools etc (and a dash of business and marketing logic). Do you know what is the traffic potential of your select keywords?

5. The on-page optimization on your website lacks focus

It’s advised to target each page of your website around ONE keyword only, and focus the page name, title, description, other relevant Meta tags, and the body content (copy) of that page around that keyword ONLY.

6. Stale, boring or duplicate content on your website

Search engine dislike websites with badly written, copied, old or irrelevant content for its users. So make it a habit to create unique, compelling and resourceful content often that the users will value. If users value your content, the search engines will too.

7. Clean up those broken links, redirect errors, and 401

Search engines don’t link encountering broken links, missing redirects and 401 errors on your website. These types of errors are recorded by search engine. It is not very difficult to clean up your website, so get down to it. If you have a website over 3 years old with good content, and you have the same number of links as your competitor’s site, and yet you can seem to move up the ladder, your culprit could be the errors search engines are encountering while spidering your website.

8. Most of the above

Don’t be disappointed if you fall in this category. This is generally the case with 90 per cent of the websites.

There was a time where doing some simple keyword research and Meta tag optimization was enough to get ranked in search engines. As the web population grew, the search engines algorithms became more complex to weed out the bad ones.

Today SEO is not just about optimization of pages, keywords and link building ONLY, but about building a complete strategy for a successful online business. In these times of recession SEO may just be the most powerful tool for any business to succeed.

Also please enjoy the free seo training on basic and advanced seo strategies that will work to get your website and keywords ranked high on search engines.

Now what excuse will you give when you know the secrets to winning at SEO even amidst strong competition? If you don’t know what to do yet, then go back to the beginning of this article and read it again.

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SEO - A Journalist’s Perspective

Once upon a time to be a good journalist or a good editor all you needed was two simple qualifications – intense curiosity and a good command over the English language. The computer age has, however, changed all that.

Today a journalist or an editor needs to make their presence felt online. A good online article has to have great content, crisp language, and SEO friendliness. This is because the article is not only targeting the net user but also the search engines.

In India SEO is at a nascent stage. Only when a journalist or an editor is writing for a blog or online media the need for better understanding of how SEO works is felt. Journalists / editors working for web media should develop SEO skills. This skill should be developed from both, writing and technology perspective. This is because SEO is the heart of a blog or a website. Companies or organizations having only online presence are totally dependent on SEO to drive traffic or visitors to their site.

Today most large and medium and even some small companies in India have online presence in some way or the other. This has created new opportunities for journalists / editors to exhibit their skills. At the same time it has also increased the need for these people to acquire or brush up their SEO skills.

Thanks to recession companies are competing more intensely than ever for better visibility among the internet users. Only those companies which use SEO efficiently and provide unique content and ideas will be able to hold their interest. Only such companies will survive and tide over the recession.

More and more non-IT professionals are waking up to the potential of online presence. They are also becoming aware of the crucial role of SEO in ensuring visibility of their online assets.
Both amateur and professional websites and blogs need services of SEO consultants or develop in-house SEO experts.

The SEO expert has to understand search engine patterns and user behaviors, and search keywords in detail and customize the site or blog content to suit such patterns. Such SEO exercise is not a one-time process but an ongoing process.

No matter how good your website is in terms of content or features, it is the SEO skills which decide that the world knows and acknowledges what you already know to be true about your website.

About G. Rajesh

G. Rajesh is a blog editor at www.siliconindia.com, a professional networking website. As the editor, he is responsible for developing new strategies to promote blogs, selecting and featuring best blogs and bloggers. He also provides guidance to bloggers having trouble posting the blogs online.

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Optimizing your Video Content

We know that video content has far better prominence in search engine listings, and a couple of good quality videos (with innovative content), if promoted well, can generate traffic and affect your websites ranking for your keywords.

The main reason for this is the wide popularity of video sites like YouTube, Meta Café and the likes, and search engines showing preference to video content rather than textual content. And yet, there are some important points to consider before you can go ahead and optimize your videos for search engines and promote them.

Since universal search started favoring video content, many SEO experts started using videos as a strategy to get quicker rankings for keywords (some even with strong competition) that otherwise would have taken months to achieve, not to mention the hard work involved in optimizing the site, and building links. Now this is not an alternative to building your regular content and links, but rather an additional boost to the existing seo efforts.

A simple method SEO’s use is to publish the video on their client’s websites and then upload it to sites like YouTube. When a search engine would find the same Meta tags in YouTube, as that of a video hosted on the client’s site, it would pass on some link juice immediately, impressing the client to no end to see his video ranked top for his keyword.

But keep in mind, video content is treated like any other content as far as search engines go, and things like having your keyword in the Meta tags, Title and the Synopsis is equally important. Since the search engines cannot understand the content of the person speaking in the video, they look into the title, the Meta tags, and synopsis of your video to take clues as to what the video is about. One good idea is to create a text transcript of the conversation of the video on that page as well.

The title of the video needs to be given a lot of prominence! Other than ensuring that your keyword/ keyword phrase is included in the title, you have to create a title that is captivating enough so that users come watch it (and recommend it).

Now that you have your videos optimized, the next big question is “where to host your videos”? Well that would depend on what do you want to achieve. If you are looking at increasing the traffic to your website, then it’s better to host the video on your website first before submitting to the big video sites. But if your objective is to spread brand awareness and want to create a viral, then you can safely host it on sites like YouTube.

Once the optimized video is live, then the next step is to build some links to your video content. You must think the video content you have created is very useful to the users, so why not announce this across social bookmarking sites, and even sites like Twitter. The more users like your video, the more traffic will reach your website.

One word of caution; you could find yourself in a situation where you are battling with your own content. What this means is that if you host a video on your site, and then submit the same video on sites like YouTube with the same title, and Meta tags, you could find yourself competing with YouTube for your keyword. Since YouTube has much more credibility than your site, it could happen that your content gets lost somewhere in search listings. To avoid this you can upload the video with the title and Meta tags around your primary keyword on your site, and then tweak the title and Meta tags of the video around another secondary keyword you want to target before you submit to sites like YouTube.

A lot of automatic video submission software’s are becoming popular, and sites like Tube Mughal can submit your video to hundreds of video sites instantaneously. This can be very useful in some campaigns where a viral effect is what your desire. The main problem with automatic submissions is that you cannot control the title, and Meta tags of your submissions, and if you are looking at using video as a tool to boost and increase search rankings, then a more careful strategy needs to be adopted.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this post on optimizing your video content.

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Interview with G Rajesh, Blog Editor (Silicon India)

In an exclusive interview with G. Rajesh, Blog Editor of http://www.siliconindia.com/ who talks about the state of SEO in India, and the impact of recession on online businesses.

What is the state of SEO / SEM in India?

In India, a very few people know about SEO/SEM in comparison to other countries. The reason being is that SEO is still perceived as a technological devise of tweaking some keywords and meta tags, and not like a marketing devise that needs a long term strategy. A seo expert needs to be skilled in online marketing techniques, seo techniques, project management, content management, strategy management, as well as understand the search engines changing algorithms. The emergence of various local e-commerce, social and professional networking sites has helped in the evolution of online business in India. I feel that SEO still has a long way to go in India because its potential is yet to be tapped by people and organizations here.

2. How is SEO / SEM helping organizations tide over recession?

Recession has lead to intense competition amongst companies. Only the fittest will be able to emerge out as winners. With the decreasing marketing budgets on traditional media channels (like television, outdoor, radio and print), companies are looking for better and cheaper alternatives like online marketing. In these difficult times, a SEO expert can assist these companies in getting their keywords on the top in search listings, thus driving additional traffic and business.

3. What is the future of SEO / SEM (in India / globally)?

SEO’s future is very bright provided it is used appropriately. I personally feel lack of awareness amongst companies about SEO is basic reason as to why it's limited to few. For the better future of SEO in companies worldwide, employers needs to realise it's benefit in the long term. Refinement in search to get desired result is one thing which will definitely have an impact on the future of SEO.

4. What do you look for in an SEO expert / SEO consultancy before hiring?

Given an opportunity to hire an SEO expert I will look at how well they have done in ranking for their keywords (e.g. if I want to hire a seo expert from mumbai, and I type 'seo expert mumbai' in the search box, the seo expert or seo company I plan to hire should rank in the top 5 in major engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN), and for their clients websites as well. Other things like good knowledge of social bookmarking, article writing, and link building will be an added plus.

5. What is the core expertise of Silicon India?

Core expertise of http://www.siliconindia.com/ lies in providing its users what they look forward to in a professional networking site. We update professionals with recent happening in technological and professional both in terms of quality and quantity.

7. What features are available and what new features do you plan to add to the site to improve its USP and provide better values to your userbase ?

We are India’s largest professional networking website, we aim at giving right direction to power of networking. Popular feature include:

News ( Latest update of both technological and professional front)
Blogs ( Enabling professionals to share their expertise for the benefit of the readers)
Communities ( Linking like minded professionals under one head)
Q& A ( A platform to get all your queries answered by professionals)
Training Videos ( Get accessed to collection of video by Industry Experts)
Education (Giving MBA aspirants a platform to find all relevant information pertaining to MBA)
Job & Careers (Get the information of Jobs not listed any where else)

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Only Genuine Sites Top Search Ranking by Vijay Dalwani

Create your website by keeping your user or customer in mind. Do not create a website by keeping the search engine in mind. Search engine says more keywords give better weightage to your page. However, if you put more keywords and your content is not accurate or not readable then the customer will go away unsatisfied. In this case, even a good ranking by the search engine does not help your business.

Successful companies mostly rely on SEO experts to increase traffic to their sites. The company’s SEO expert first understand the search engines. They study how successful companies manage their listings. They figure out how search algorithms work by studying the sites listed in top 5 thoroughly.

SEO / SEM has a single objective. Their purpose is to provide more visibility to your website on the net. This can be achieved by getting higher ranking on the search engines by executing smart SEO activities for a long period of time.

Blogging can be a very useful SEO tool if used effectively. Blogs help business stake holders talk about their area of interest or areas of interest beneficial to the business. Blogs are a subtle attempt to influence the readers by convincing them about your point of view instead of directly telling them to come and buy your product.

Social networking too is a formidable SEO device. It helps you rally a group of people around a common idea. Now instead of you talking about your product, you have a large group of people talking about your product and expand the visibility of your product and your organization on the net.

Affiliate marketing is a pure SEM device. It uses a straight approach of telling the customer to come to your site and buy your product. However, in this case, not only you but all your affiliate partners are selling the product for you and sharing the profit. This is an effective way to increase your online sale.

Using genuine devices like blogging and social networking to increase traffic to your site helps you beat search algorithm changes in the long run since the basic criteria for top ranking remains the same. Algorithms change not to keep out genuine sites from the top but to filter out sites using unethical means to reach the top.

About the Author:

Vijay Dalwani is the Director (Operations) of a UK based healthcare and wellness organization.

In his previous assignments he has been working as:
- VP Operations with TVC Sky Shop Ltd
- Head of Operations with Wonderfulbuys.com (US Based Internet company)
- Director Operations with Cyberdyne Solutions IndiaLimited (A software company with a US tie up).

Vijay has been working on SEO / SEM for the last 7 years. He is a people's person who likes to develop people as they are the assets of today and tomorrow. Vijay conducts training programs in SEO / SEM and other topics for budding profesionals. Vijay has a passion for learning new things and can go to any extent to get even 5 minutes of new learning.

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SEO bad links, good links and great links

From a SEO’s perspective once you have identified winning keywords, and your content strategy is in place to target those keywords (while ensuring that the optimized content is easily accessible to search crawlers with no error pages, broken links, redirect and 404 errors), the next and most important step to higher rankings is building quality links to that content.

Link building is probably the most time consuming and difficult task at hand for the seo expert. Little wonder there is so much attention, hype, mystery and stigmata that is surrounding link building strategies.

Now there are many link building companies who make promises of 1000 links in 1 hour, or link exchange programs that assert to miraculously pass link juice to your website. We also know that search engines frown at such behavior, and yet they may not be actually penalizing such manipulative sites for now.

I have seen many sites that blatantly ignore search engines on-page guidelines, and having links from sites that are obviously manipulating for links, but we are not here to evaluate these exception cases or judge the search engines.

In addition, search algorithms have a lot more variables in place now to evaluate a link from being worthy of passing on the link juice or not.

All this adds to the general confusion for companies planning their link building strategy, budgets and what constitutes a bad link, a good link and a great link.

A bad link, is bad link building …

Now we don’t know if the search engines actually wean out certain links as bad links or if they penalize a site which is getting a link back from such a website, but we do know that search engines value those links that come from popular and credible sources.

The advice I give to clients who are in a hurry to get linked-up is - why play hide and seek with the search engines when sooner or later you will be found. Why take a chance to be penalized, or worse, banned from a search engine?

So what is a bad link? A bad link can be defined as a link that comes from a source that has little or no content, is not popular, is involved in black hat seo, link exchanges, and is basically trying to deceive the search engines and the users into believing it to be of some value.

Good link building can take time and patience …

Good links can come from social, web and user communities the seo expert targets by specifically submitting the website/ content to these websites manually. If a website which are popular (have a good page rank) and a good link reputation gives a link to your website/content pages then it can be counted as a good link.

One can submit to web directories (make sure they are managed by human editors and not automated), article submissions sites, social bookmarking sites, Google knoll, Yahoo answers, Wikipedia (in some cases), and relevant blogs (and by commenting on the blogs) that have a high page rank.

Good links can also be earned by taking the effort to find other sites that have relevant content to yours and painstakingly requesting them to link back to your website. Try not to participate in reciprocal linking (one way links are the best, as search engines assume that you have gotten the link purely on credit and not favor).

You can also see your competitions links, and then try and attract some of those good ones for yourself. The bad news is that you are playing “follow the leader” with your competition.

Many impatient link builders prefer buying links from websites by offering the owners some money in exchange for a link. I leave this one to you!

Give me Great link building anytime…

So what makes a link great?

Is it the fact that the link comes from a website that’s popular, has a high page rank and an active user community? This could very well be categorized in the good links section so what constitutes a “great link” to a search engine.

A link is counted as a great link if a website (even with a decent page rank) links back to your content because they found your content on their own, and found it valuable enough (for their users) to link back to it. This is also called as link baiting i.e. your great content is the bait to get other websites to link back.

While a lot of time, effort and money can go into creating good links, once you stop your link building campaign, your links stop too! This does not mean that you don’t need to focus on getting those good links, but rather build a link matrix that balances both the worlds.

The thing about great links is that it needs great content! And if you can focus on delivering and promoting your unique, compelling and engaging content you are already on your way to higher rankings.

--- Reference Guide for Building Good Links ---

A few web directories to submit your site to:

www.dmoz.org (Google Directory, Free)
http://dir.yahoo.com (Yahoo Directory, Paid)
www.business.com
(There are hundreds of free and paid web directories to choose from; submit to web directories with high page rank)

A few article sites to get you started:

http://ezinearticles.com
http://www.articlesbase.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.geckoe.com

A few social community sites to get you started:

http://digg.com/
http://delicious.com/
www.stumbleupon.com
www.reddit.com
www.blinklist.com
www.squidoo.com
www.twitter.com
www.furl.net

A few important others:

http://knol.google.com/k
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://answers.yahoo.com/
http://maps.google.com (Google Maps)
http://local.google.com (Google Local)
www.youtube.com (Video Content)
www.metacafe.com (Video Content)

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