General SEO & Marketing Tips:
This part of the site explains some of the other parts of the SEO process. This is so the site is not accused of being blind or misleading people. Other parts to SEO are important, but when it comes down to it generally none are as effective, time consuming, or expensive as the link building process is.
Structuring a page so it makes sense is a smart thing. So is doing appropriate keyword research. So is inserting the keywords and related modifiers into page content in a way that makes sense to page users and bots.
No matter how skilled or inept you may be, as long as you look at the big picture you should be able to:
- research your market to find where demand is - you can do this by:
- reading & participating in forums and use groups to find common problems and questions (it is easier to build a product which demand exists for than to try to push something which there is no demand for)
- asking questions in the offline world. Ask what prospective customers thinks are important issues and questions.
- marketing a page using AdWords which asks people what they would like in a product or guide. You can offer them a free copy for their feedback. Informational items have
- start doing keyword research and structuring your site profile within a few weeks to a month. WordTracker is a solid keyword research tool. I also recommend testing out your market using Google AdWords, and here are some additional keyword research tools.
- write content based around the keywords and ideas. This content should read good to people so they are compelled to convert.
- you may also want to create free tools and cool content which is so good that inspires linking. Most sites / tools / content do not do this, but there are likely some opportunities in every market if you are creative enough.
There are a ton of SEO forums, SEO blogs, newsgroups, SEO informational resource sites, and other marketing sites which can help answer your various SEO related questions. I also sell an SEO Book if you are looking for a current linear guide to SEO.
If you are looking to hire an SEO you may want to check out the following sites:
Site Design:
I am using DreamWeaver to edit this site in a what you see is what you get editor. You can edit code in notepad if you like.
You do not even need to know how to design a site to make one. This template was 100% free from the excellent OSWD site. For a highly commercial site you may want to have a somewhat original site design as well, but the point is that it is possible to start off in your parents basement and end up doing well quickly...so long as you are a link hound.
If you create a blog or online journal some software will auto format your words and posts for you. WordPress is free. So is Blogger. TypePad and MovableType both cost money but are also cool. TypePad allows you to dynamically redirect other URLs to their servers and you can host and publish many blogs for one monthly fee.
FTP & Hosting:
Many web design programs (such as DreamWeaver) have FTP clients built in their product. If you need a separate FTP client Cute FTP is one of the more popular ones. If you need a free one I have used Leech FTP & Core FTP. There are many other free ones on the market.
Good hosting is important for SEO purposes. This site is on a bit of a shaky host because it is pretty much a not for profit site and of the 4 to 5 hosts I am using it is the only one that supports the tools on this site. I have found Pair and DreamHost to generally be good hosts.