SEO, Social Media & eCommerce Talk @RTMLWise

As I have mentioned in my earlier blog posts , it is no longer enough to pepper your web pages with keywords and then sit back and relax . In fact, SEO has become much more complicated. At the same time, it has also become much simpler ,in the sense that people trying to fool search engines are finding it tougher and therefore your site with relevant content has better chance to get noticed by search engines. But you now need a basket of SEO activities. I have always advocated that your web activities must be geared towards attracting genuine audiences and to achieve this you must have a real product or service to sell. Having said that, your effort should be to spread the word around.

1^st must-do : Create a supporting blog

This is really quite simple and tremendously effective. I was myself surprised by its effectiveness the first time around. In SEO, you have to keep experimenting. Firstly because search engine algorithms keep changing, you also have to keep adjusting to the changes. More importantly, there is no way you can ascertain efficiency of your SEO campaign without testing and trial by fire. Your supporting blog ,by which I mean a blog which points to your main website , can be on any free blog service. Intuitively, I feel that Blogger is the best option: It is free and a part of Google. Google search engine must logically visit its own site more frequently than other blogging sites. But Wordpress is equally effective. In a way, your blog is creating links to your main website which means better search engine ranking. No doubt ,most websites now have a sister blog to complement it. The advantage of having a supporting blog is that you can discuss various aspects of your website in an informal manner. Instead of using your website for feedback and creative critique( negative feedback in blunt words) you can use your blog to do the dirty work. I would really recommend all of you who have a web site to create a blog. I hear so often from my clients “ Why do I need a blog when I have a $5000 website?” . I hope I have made things clear for them.

2^nd must-do : Participate in social networking sites

Another quick way to SEO nirvana is to participate in social networking forums . Not only do you create awareness about you among peers but you get to create links to your site. Those of you who are tech savvy can also try your hands at making widgets which can be placed on social sites. Your participation in forums would ideally send traffic to your blog and also directly to the main website. Once you have some decent traffic , you can make them subscribe to your emails which would add to your SEO effort.

3^rd must-do : Submit content to article directory sites

Submitting content to article directories is a great way to create links to your site. Providing articles on your specific product or service which can be freely downloaded means spreading the word through multiple channels. You must remember that the articles should be unique and not too personal ,otherwise you run the risk of being rejected by article directories. Just have a quick look at the kind of articles being accepted and you will be able to crack the code .Let me tell you that it is not rocket science.

4^th must-do : Use keywords tactically

Coming back to SEO basics , keywords are still keywords. Using them tactically is the primary weapon in your scabbard. Keyword density has been discussed extensively in many forums and I will not go into it. But you always run the chance of being blacklisted by search engines if you stuff keywords without relevance . In fact, it is best to retain the original script without worrying too much about keywords. In the end you can tactically insert keywords and make it look organic.

The trick is to use all your weapons and fire them simultaneously. This would result in a critical mass which would ultimately trigger your search engine ranking. Alone by itself any of these techniques may not yield great results but together they can have a greater impact. The tools I have recommended are free and the technique is rather dummies stuff. But let me assure you that it works. A little bit of attention to details and you can be off to a flying start. Thereafter you must fine tune your strategy and manage the metrics. Remember what I said at the beginning – in SEO the only thing permanent is change and you must adapt to it quickly.