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According to Business Week, SEO clicks convert about 25% higher, than PPC clicks

Last week I gave a presentation on How to Get Better Conversions: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Publishers.  I thought it may be a good idea to give some brief pointers from the presentation, just to reiterate how following some of the basic practices can really provide great results.  I think of search engine optimization as little pieces of a puzzle. When you attach all those pieces of the puzzle together, you end up with the big picture.  There is really no ONE thing you can do to make your search efforts successful.  It’s all about making each little task effective and strong.

First of all, what is SEO anyway?  Well, it’s a way for people to find your website in search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing and so on.  It’s one thing to have a website up and running, but if someone does not know you or what you do, how are they going to find you?  Search engine optimization is the practice of implementing certain actions on and off your website so humans and search engines can find your website or blog.

So now you know what SEO is, next step is doing your research!

• Who wants what you’re selling?
• What keywords would THEY use to get to your site?
• Who are your competitors and how are those competitors getting people to their site?

Secondly, make sure your house is in order, and by that I mean, site structure.  These things are basically the outline of your website optimization.

301 Redirects – If you can type in yoursite.com and it does not change to www.yoursite.com, or vice versa, then you’ve got issues as your site is:

1. Seen as two sites which can be considered duplicate content
2. All the links that coming to your site are being diluted, because some are going to yoursite.com and others to, www.yoursite.com

The solution is to take one of those roots and do a 301 redirect.  This tells the search engine to focus all the content and inbound links under one domain.

Metadata -  Consists of:

1. Title Tag
2. Keyword Tag
3. Description Tag

This is the text that Google sees and what YOU see when you are shown the results in search engines.  This is your organic or natural advertisement in search engines.  If you are on your website and you click View>Source and cannot see any keywords within in any of these areas when your are in the ‘code view,’ then you need to add them.  These should all be unique to each page and really tell the person and search engine what that exact page is about.

Headings – This is the headline of your page and tells the person reading your content what the content is about.  Think of it like the headline of a newspaper. You can also have subheadings, but  this should remain tagged as H2- H6 (See in the code,) and the H1 remain only for the main heading of a page.

Website Design – Is your design search and spider friendly?  Some websites are GORGEOUS and have pretty pictures and video or flash, which is great except that search engines cannot really see any of this fabulous work.  If you have a site like this, I suggest adding content, and by that I mean text.  Make it compelling and unique.  Another effective idea is start a blog on your site and update it frequently.  Also, be a voice of education so people know you’re a out there trying to be helpful.  This way you can gain your visitors trust as you are there to share useful information, rather thank constantly posting information about your products or service.  Would you want your friends to always talk about themselves?  I think not, so talk about your industry and the latest news and trends.  You will gain interest and provide helpful information that people will want to share with others.

Internal Links – Lastly, is making sure your pages within your site link from one page to another.  Link to other pages within your site that relate to what the content is mentioning.  If you are talking about sneakers, rather than linking to t-shirts, I suggest you link to other types of sneakers or even a page that talks about the benefits of running.

So this was just a brief glimpse into what was discussed during the webinar.  There were many other SEO techniques I mentioned, such as:

• Types of content
• Different types of links
• How to promote your site

All in all, SEO and Search Engine Marketing done together will really give you the maximum benefits and exposure you need for your website.

Victoria Edwards, SEO/Search Marketing Specialist