15 Minute Guide to Search Engine Optimisation
- 1. Why optimise your site?
- #1 gets 42% of clicks, #2 get 12%, #3 8%
- What difference would being number one make to your business?
- If only it was that simple:
- advertising
- indented listings
- "one box"
- "ten pack"
- maps
- images
- video
- and other stuff! Combine to complicate rankings and reduce CTR.
- 2. The simplest search engine optimisation stuff you can do today.
- Have you asked for a link today?
- Match the title tag of the page to the phrase you’re targeting.
- Headings – Use H1 to target your main phrase.
- Sub Headings – Use H2 and H3 for other variants.
- Description – Have a compelling meta description to encourage click through on the SERPs. Consider this advertising copy.
- Content – include further versions of your keyphrase to cover more "long tail" options.
- Perpetual motion – continuing to build content based on success and opportunity based upon analytics and conversions
- If you’re local, add your address.
- Speak to your customers – ask for links, reviews and testimonials.
- 3. The curse of knowledge
- Speak your customers’ language: is your "widget" a "thingy" to your customers?
- Don’t keep on doing something because it’s always been that way. Look for new angles and opportunities.
- 4. Keyword research
- 5. Evaluating Competition.
- Who ranks?
- High Authority sites
- Massive Corporations
- News organisations
- Domains that exactly match the keyphrase
- How many unique inbound links do the top results have?
- Are the top results spammy?
- Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.
- The three Ps of internet marketing – Pills, Porn & Poker – require a different tool set and methodology and mindset to more conventional marketing.
- 6. Measure twice, cut once – statistics and analytics.
- Start to measure
- What to watch
- Don’t forget to look for opportunity to improve upon success
- 7. Conversion Rate – How To Sell More
- 8. Accept that a working website is never finished.
Online Sales
Building a $100 a Day Automatic Income Generating Website | Online Sales wrote,
[...] Part two of this post will detail a couple of methods to really generate $100 a day. It’s not quick and easy. It takes time, investment and bloody hard work. [...]
| Link | October 26th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Ben Khoo wrote,
Great checklist. It reminds me that I need to be more thorough in examining my competitors’ inbound anchor text. For point 3 “The Curse of Knowledge”, it’s also worth mentioning that one should focus on highlighting benefits, versus features. Looking forward to reading the next piece.
| Link | October 26th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Online Sales wrote,
You’re right; I’ll add that into the conversion section somewhere. Thanks Ben!
| Link | October 26th, 2010 at 6:25 pm