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Everyone throws around the term “SEO,” how to use it there, apply some there – but what’s the benefit in all of this? It’s getting your website to the first page!
Take a moment and think about what happens when you search Google (or whichever your choice search engine might be) and the results are listed for your search.
First, you’ll immediate look at the top result – does it appear to be relevant and useful? Maybe one of the top three results?
At that point searchers might scan the rest of the results, and even dig a bit deeper – but the rest of them refine the search terms and look for a better list of results.
Getting to the First Page with Keywords
Keywords are the first step to many successful SEO campaigns, and when using them properly – you’re site can hit the first page in a matter of weeks. Keywords help the search engines determine relevancy, and understanding how to target the keywords in your niche will give you a major advantage online.
How to Make Keywords Work for You
First, make a list of the top 10 keywords relating to your niche. Use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to pick keywords that have “exact” search traffic. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about the keyword tool. (link to guide)
Next, take your list of 10 keywords and refine it down to three of four. Write them down and memorize them, because you’ll be needed to reference them. It’s important to target your campaign to keywords with traffic, so make sure you write down and use the “exact” terms you chose from the keyword tool.
Finally, optimize your site based on those keywords! Immediately you can change title tags, descriptions, category or page names and you can even rewrite current content to 
include your 3 or 4 top keywords. Optimizing your own site and content with keywords can quickly boost your search engine positions.
From this point forward use those keywords in all your new content, but don’t spam it – I’m talking about using these keywords about once per paragraph (on average).
Allow anchor text on all your links and images that reference the keywords, and before you know it you’ll be rising in the ranks for your chosen keywords. If you want to track your positions in Google based on keywords – then try using the link on the right side “Google Position Tracking.”
My Site Has Keywords… But It’s Still Not on the First Page!
Some keywords are more competitive than others, just like industries in business. So how can you compete against the big guns? Well, they pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into keyword advertising at times and the truth is you might have a tough time. You’re not done yet though, you’ve still got two options to beat these guys.
Have you heard of the phrase, “If you can’t go through it, then go around it?” Well if you can’t beat them on the top keywords you can go around them, and find the “long tail” tail keywords they haven’t targeted.
Go back to the keyword tool and repeat your search, now look at the top 10 keywords and the total search traffic they receive. Now scroll down and look at the 40 keywords below that you didn’t want to list before. Well, guess what… if you didn’t think to target them then chances are that no one else did either.
Long tail keywords like “marketing domains to end-users” are easier to capture and control than broad keywords like “domains.” So find the long tail keywords that receive searches, and use them to your advantage, because in accumulation they often provide more traffic than trying to compete on the big keywords.
Your other option is to compete, to try and take them head on. If you plan to do this, then you’ll need to be willing to learn as you go and put in a minimum of an hour a day towards marketing and promoting your website.
Aside from optimizing your own web page content for keywords, other factors play a big role in your search engine positions. Let’s talk about linking.
Internal links on your site are the ones that source other pages on your website, and the internal link structure needs to be solid if you plan to compete.
Draw out your site, generate a sitemap and submit it into the Google webmaster tools. Providing a solid and stable website structure is not only important when the search engine spiders crawl your site, but your visitors will appreciate it also.
Next on your list if you want to compete is networking, mainly online social networking. By meeting new people and creating a band of followers on social networks like twitter, digg, and facebook you are also creating a network of links to your site and building awareness.
Successful social networking can provide you with an expert status among your followers and allows you to promote your own content to the masses. Never engage in social networking if you don’t plan to put some time aside for it. It’s important to make meaningful comments, make positive connections, and provide value to your new band of followers through more than just spam.
Social networking can become addictive –so be careful, and yes I’m speaking first hand. I look forward to writing an article on successful social networking in the near future, but for now there is countless articles that will enlighten you on the many niches of these networks.
Social networking is a great way to drive traffic, gain outbound links and boost awareness to any website.
Ok, I’ve Been Networking My Butt Off – And I’m Even Using Keywords, but I’m Still Not Seeing Results!
When building an effective search engine optimization campaign, it’s simply not enough to rely on keyword and links. If you want to get you website to the first page, and if you want to dominate the competition then you need to have quality content.
Give your visitors a reason to come back and don’t make a sloppy first impression. Keywords and links can get you onto that first page, but if you ever want to own your niche or category then you need to have quality content, and you should give every visitor a reason to bookmark or save your site for the future.
So there you go, you want to take your site from nothing to first page in a couple of weeks? Then do these three things:
- Chose 3-4 top keywords and optimize your site with keywords and internal links.
- Capture and control you chosen long-tail keywords, and engage in meaningful social networking.
- Create quality content, offer tool sets, or provide something completely unique.
Before you know it, you’ll be telling all your friends to search your keywords in Google – displaying your site proudly.
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