Search Engine Optimization

Key words are really the foundation of any SEO campaign. Your keywords are the major factors in determining where in the search rankings you'll land, and they also decipher between a user finding your page or someone else's. Choosing the right keyword can be the difference between being the needle in the haystack or the sledge hammer, the right preparations, and keywords as well as what type of audience you are trying to attract makes all the difference.


There are many free research tools out there that can assist you in finding the right keywords or phrases for your campaign. One of my personal favorites is http://www.keyworddiscovery.com this tool is free, but can only do so much for you. Just remember that the keywords that you choose are only about 15% of the overall optimization that you have to take care of, but very essential. There like the neon lights on a business the catch is to include content inside your page that relates to your keyword choices.
How do you know what's right and what's not? There are two different category types of keywords: brand keywords and general keywords.

SEO

Before we begin optimizing any existing website we take a few elements into consideration. In some instances we have to reconstruct entire websites because of the lack of SEO imbedded into the site when it was originally being constructed. Some important specifications to consider when building a website are:
Does your website have meta tags and meta keywords that are thoroughly defined on your website?
Some web designers only implement highly searched for keywords but never include these words in their content. In most cases search engines will doc you points for this.
Are your images tagged properly?

Keep in mind that search engine crawlers are robots that cannot see images, only text. So if your website is all images and are not labeled correctly all the crawler is going to see are blank holes in your website. I am sure I don't have to specify why this would be bad for search engine rankings.
Is your website intriguing to the user?

One of the major methods that search engines place websites in search rankings is the bounce rate. Bounce rate is how long a user stays on your site before leaving. With most internet users having a low attention span due to the amount of content on the World Wide Web. It is essential that your website keeps your visitors interest; this can usually be done by incorporating the following.

• Easy Navigation: Make the site easy to navigate, to give the overall feel of the website and what type of content it has to offer.
• Design: Most of the time this portion of the site is overlooks, if your site is not appealing and pleasing to the eye, your users will find a website that is.
• Content: The more informative your website the better the ranking. Make sure your website fully describes in detail what types of products and services that you offer.
• Products: If you have products on your website can a user easily purchase a product? Having a shopping cart system in place is the easiest and most user friendly method for visitors to become paying customers.