Marketing Clique

Did the word nude get your attention? Well, it should.

SEO is all about being found naturally and letting the search engines see what you've got. Don't be shy. Be naked. Be natural.

That's the problem. Too many websites are prude, not nude. They don't let the search engines see what they've got. Their content is effectively hidden as a result of incomplete website programming, becoming overly complicated, or they've gotten lazy with their promise to remain authentic and naked.

This post was written with the small and mid-sized business in mind, but perhaps larger companies would benefit as well. None of this is really new. It's just a good, wholesome review of the basics.

Basic SEO is as easy as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

1. Act locally and think globally. Design your site for humans, but don't forget Google. If your site is well liked by humans, Google will catch on. Try not to over-think it.
2. Be human. Think of the ways people are most apt to search for your website. Use that language. Those are the words people type into search engines.
3. Look around you. There are other sites that you're competing against. Get inspiration. If they're more popular than you, make sure your content is just as relevant, or better!
4. Grab the Long Tail. Are there Long Tail search terms that people use to find your stuff? Can you take advantage of being a relevant search result for those terms?
5. Write as good well as you can. If you're not a good copywriter, hire one. It's worth it. Well written copy will help you sell more of your stuff. Good copy not only helps with conversion, it keeps your content focused and relevant.
6. Stay organized. Every page on your site should be as focused and organized as possible. Follow standard HTML document structure. Start the body copy of each page with content that includes the keyword phrase on which you're going to focus. Repeat that keyword phrase as a theme on the page. Directories should be hierarchical, and use real words, not dynamic URLs. For example, try to keep your website addresses intuitively structured: http://www.yoursite.com/products/shoes/tennis/product123 not http://www.yoursite.com/pdp2/asdpo.asp?#1234sessionid123
7. Links. It's about quality, not just quantity. Quality means relevancy. Relevancy means the links to your site should come from relevant sites. For example, if your site sells shoes and there's an inbound link from a site that sells tennis rackets, you better be selling tennis shoes, and not ballet slippers. Interlinking helps too. Interlinking is when you link to content within your own site. Link up everything that's relevant. Choose your anchor text wisely. The Internet is about good links!
   • Bonus: It is a more powerful inbound link if the hyperlinked ("anchor text") text that is liking to your site is also relevant, and linking to a specific page on your website, not just your home page.
8. Blog. Google likes blogs. A blog can help to keep the content on your site fresh and dynamic. What? You're afraid to blog? If you're reading this you're not afraid to blog. Now, go on!
9. Video. Google loves video. Good videos are a PITA to produce, but do it.
10. Socialize everything. All of the content on your site should have the ability to be Tweeted, shared on Facebook, Digg, YouTube, LinkedIn, and all of the other usual social media suspects. They all will have links back to your website and blog, right? Find out which social meda outlets your customers and prospects are using. Be there, and be naked!

Think Outside of the Box

Sometimes SEO requires thinking outside of the box. Here, watch this video. It will help you to think outside of the box...

Video from Joseph Pelling