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Designs&Details
09-13-2010, 01:10 PM
Hello,

Please take a look at my website and let me know what you think. I know there is something out there called SEO that I probably need to look into. Can someone tell me how important that is? Is that something I need to take care of ASAP?

Home (http://www.designs-details.com)

Thanks!

Spider
09-13-2010, 01:18 PM
Welcome to the forum, Stephanie.

Harold Mansfield
09-13-2010, 01:30 PM
Hello,

Please take a look at my website and let me know what you think. I know there is something out there called SEO that I probably need to look into. Can someone tell me how important that is? Is that something I need to take care of ASAP?

Home (http://www.designs-details.com)

Thanks!

Wow! Yes, it is something that you need to look into.
There are a ton of resources and I am sure a lot of people here can point you in the right direction.
Here is just one page to get you started on what the basics are:
SEO Basics - a knol by aaron wall (http://knol.google.com/k/seo-basics#)

KristineS
09-13-2010, 04:43 PM
Welcome to the forum Stephanie. Search engine optimization (SEO) can be useful in helping people to find your site. There are a lot of resources that you can use, but make sure that you do your research. There are some conflicting theories out there as to what is useful and necessary when it comes to SEO.

Lyrafire
09-13-2010, 08:04 PM
SEO is critical. That said, at least some of it should happen naturally if your site is well-designed on the back end as well as the front end and contains useful, relevant content. But yes, you should learn enough about SEO so that you have an idea of what to expect from on SEO expert (watch out--lots of people who call themselves SEO experts aren't).
To get you started, here are some articles on the basics:

SEO 101: Everything You Need to Know About SEO (But Were Afraid to Ask) (http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/seo-101-everything-you-need-to-know-abou.php).

cbscreative
09-13-2010, 11:17 PM
Stephanie, as others have pointed out, there is a lot of info about SEO, both good and bad. To help sort out the difference, think of Google trying to please their "customers" with relevant search results. Imagine that you were Google trying to deliver quality results to be the most favored search engine. When you read SEO advice, think of how you would like it used on you if you were Google. If it helps Google complete their mission, it's probably good advice. If you think, "Wow, that seems like cheating. If I were Google, I'd want to stop people from doing this," then it's bad advice.

vangogh
09-14-2010, 12:41 PM
Hi Stephanie. Welcome to the forum. There's a lot more to seo than can be shared in a forum thread, but here are two big things.

1. Give your pages more meaningful titles. What you write in a page title (in between the <title></title> tags) is really important. Right now the title of your home page is Home. Unless you're trying to rank for the work home that's a poor title. I would think a phrase like Virtual Assistant Services would be better, though even that could be improved on.

Think about the words that people will use to search for you and then make sure to use those words on the site and especially in the page title of each page.

2. Your Flash navigation may look nice, but search engines can't read Flash or at least not as well as you might want them to. Type your URL into this seo browser (http://www.seo-browser.com/). It shows you how your page looks to a search engine spider. If you try it you'll notice that the links in your Flash menu aren't there. That makes it much hard for search engines to find and index all your pages.

You're better creating that menu using html and css. If you must use Flash then provide a second system of navigation for search engine spiders to crawl.

Again there's a lot more to seo, but hopefully the above helps a little. Feel free to ask more questions here or start other threads asking them.

Designs&Details
09-15-2010, 01:55 PM
Thanks everyone for the tips! I have a lot to learn, but hopefully I can improve my site little by little.

vangogh
09-15-2010, 08:15 PM
Incremental changes are often the best way to improve a site. Search through the seo forums here, since we've talked about a lot. SEO is really confusing at first in part because it encompasses a lot of things and in part, because there's far too much misinformation online. Here's the initial post I wrote in the seo section to help you approach seo (http://www.small-business-forum.net/search-engine-optimization/7-how-approach-search-engine-optimization.html) and get started on the right path.

One good stop for learning is the free seo guides at SEOmoz (http://www.seomoz.org/articles/free). You might want to subscribe to your blog while there.

Start reading and keep reading even if it doesn't make sense right away. Try not to get too wrapped up in details and try to see the bigger picture. SEO is part of marketing. It should not be the only marketing you do. Don't get caught in the trap of thinking you're trying to find the one or two key places to add a word or two or that one line of code that will optimize everything. It doesn't work that way.

Take things one step at a time. I mentioned page titles in my post above. Spend a few hours reading up on how to optimize a page title. Then write some and see what happens. Before you know it every page title you write will be optimized. Then move on to something else.

billbenson
09-15-2010, 08:43 PM
I said this in a different post the other day, I think, but I think a hobby site is a great way to learn web marketing and SEO. Pick a subject that is a fairly small niche. Say, lawnmower blades. Not lawnmowers, not Torro lawn mowers; Lawnmower Blades. Thats an example. Pick something you know something about or want to and is in a fairly small niche.

Make the site say, 6 pages. Just html, nothing fancy. Now get it into the top 5 on Google. Study SEO. Implement changes that seem to make sense. Put it up for reviews. Put as much or little time into it as you like. Obviously the more time you spend the faster you will learn. But make it a hobby so its fun. When you can get your site ranking well on G, you will have a good grasp of Search Engine Marketing and SEO (they are different). You will then be well armed to manage your business site, people you hire to work on your business site etc.

vangogh
09-17-2010, 01:57 AM
That's a good idea. With some aspects of seo you can simply read about them and understand how they work and what to do. Ultimately though you have to test things to see what happens. Having a hobby site you work on is a good idea since you can experiment with things to see what happens without having it affect your business. And it's something you can work on when you feel like instead of because you have to.

billbenson
11-20-2010, 04:34 PM
Google Webmaster would be a good starting point to quench your thirst for SEO knowledge. Please remember that SEO is a very long and tedious process. If you are expecting quick results in terms of marketing your website then you should consider a budget for online marketing and sign up for pay per click advertising with Google and other platforms.

While the above is true, PPC campaigns such as Google Adwords require a lot of SEO knowledge and PPC knowledge. For an ad campaign to be successful, you need optimized ads, the correct keyword strategies and landing pages designed around the ad. You can try to get away with generic landing pages, but one targeted at the ad is usually the best. So this means learning SEO and writing unique site pages for each ad. As a lot of different ads is usually the best approach, if you want 40 ads, that means also writing 40 web pages, all optimized. If you go in blind, you probably will loose a lot of money. I use it heavily and it can work great, but be very careful when you put your credit card on the line for Adwords or other PPC's.

janemerino
11-20-2010, 04:51 PM
Very true about Google Adwords. It can be useful, but you have to be very careful in managing it or your budget can be exceeded too quickly. Make sure you fully understand all terms and charges before signing up and putting your credit card on the line for any PPC.