Just a bit about search engine optimization.

There’s a little bit of confusion as to whether SEO and internet marketing is an art or a science. It is actually more science than art, because there is a systematic way to go about acquiring traffic and generating buzz for a website and product. Only thing required is that a person understands the basics and knows what tools to use.

SEO Basics: SEO is more about a better visitor experience, and figuring out ways to attract new visitors. From this viewpoint, it needs one to be an expert in a specific sector or field that the site caters to, rather than an SEO expert. All that really needs to be done is to be aware of the Google guidelines outlined in its webmaster section, and use a suitable platform like WordPress for a blog or joomla for a site that needs a robust CMS.

Keyword Tools: SEO begins with keywords, so before doing anything else, compile a list of keywords relevant to the website. All future activities, including those outlined below, depend in one way or other on this list. It is therefore imperative to get hold of a nice bunch of keywords with high query volumes that are actively being sought after by competitors.

An expert in SEO will be able to come up with a nice list of keywords without any help. But it works better, and is more scientific, to use a keyword tool. The most popular one is from Google, which generates keyword suggestions for Adwords users. There are many more, though, that work just as well, including Wordstream and SpyFu.

Onsite Optimization: The main part of onsite SEO is about matching pages with specific keywords. It’s important to have the keyword in the page title and the URL. Other than that, it’s best to leave things to flow naturally. Keyword insertions within the content, if any, should never break the flow of the page and its message. It’s always better to leave existing content as is and focus on building new landing pages for each keyword.

Other things that help include using the right platform and/or CMS so that it can automatically produce the required titles, URLs and optimal internal linking structure, which is a good strategy for all Internet marketing practices. Design and back-end scripts can be optimized by using the right fonts and graphics, and a better hosting server that speeds up page loading time.

Link Building: Incoming links have a great deal of relevance, when it comes to the search algorithm. The link building campaign will reach out to established websites in the community and acquire link deals based on the keywords and the site’s content. There are also a few tricks of the trade, and if three way link partnerships or sitewide and blogroll links don’t ring a bell, it would be best to get hold of a professional to take care of it.

Analytics: After a certain level, poring through raw server logs and the web host’s site stats tool is no longer enough. A growing website needs strong analytics scripts that can pinpoint everything from keywords to referrals, landing page information and visitor demographics, not to mention the all important ad clickthru’s and conversion data. All this provides direction by spotlighting areas with potential and others that need improvement.

To summarize, there is no deep, dark secret behind SEO and internet marketing. Yes, there are tools and software that make life easier, and some tricks of the trade that can help the site grow faster. But the core of it is to have a good product/service to offer visitors, and lots of talent and hard work.

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