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To get us started – just a few quick facts about SEO:1.
More than 8 out of 10 Internet users look on search engines to findinformation and the products or services they want to buy.
2.
Pay-per-click (PPC) costs are rising (over 37% higher from last year tothis year Q1).
3.
Up to 85% of searchers ignore paid listings.
4.
63% of the top natural (organic) listings get click throughs.
5.
Natural (organic) search results convert 30% higher than PPC.
6.
11.8% of Google traffic will click on a site in the second page of results.
7.
A new study from the University of Southern California’s Center for theDigital Future has “found that the Internet is perceived by users to be amore important source of information for them —over all other principalmedia, including television, radio, newspapers, and books.”
Now, let’s get right to the good stuff.
Introduction to the Search Engines
(in basic terms):
 
 Think of the engines like teachers handing out gold stars for everything that you dowell. Google currently has about 200 factors in their algorithms that determine howyour site will rank. Imagine your teacher with a clipboard and checklist with 200items on it and she assigns you gold stars for each of the things you do well.Remember, some of the items on the list are more important and you may getmultiple gold stars. No one knows for sure how the algorithm works, but we test andmonitor the industry to come up with a technique that works well for getting sitesranked.The number of gold stars you achieve will determine how well your site will rank.There are no shortcuts and there are no tricks (none that are safe to use and won’tresult in trouble down the road).
 
Topics Covered:
1.
Lesson One: Keyword Research
2.
Lesson Two: SEO Friendliness – Diagnosis & Correction, plusCompetitor Analysis
3.
Lesson Three: On-page optimization
4.
Lesson Four: Google Webmaster Tools
5.
Lesson Five: Links
6.
Lesson Six: On-going Content Addition & Social Media
7.
Lesson Seven: Blogging
8.
Lesson Eight: Maintenance
9.
Lesson Nine: Resources and Tools
10.
Conclusion: Final Words of WisdomLesson One: Keyword Research and Competitor Analysis
Finding the right keywords is the foundation to your campaign.Here is an outline of the steps you should follow for keyword research:1. Start with a brainstorming session to list all possible words and phrases thatpeople would use to find what you have to offer. Remember to put yourself in themindset of the potential customer.
 
 2. Do the necessary research to continue building your list.
Research your competitors and see what keywords they are using.
Look at your web stats and logs and pull words and phrases from there (thisis a great source of info, you can find the words that people are already usingto find you and enhance your rankings on those words so you can get evenmore traffic).
If you have a search feature on your site, look at the logs and see whatpeople are searching for within your site once they get there.3. Take the large master list you have come up with and use a keyword tool todetermine how much traffic there is and how competitive the words/phrases are.Remember you can’t live and die by this information, it only acts as a guide for you.4. Take your list and break it into segments. You want some “low hanging fruit” – which means keywords that may be longer phrases with less traffic. These words willbe easy to rank for fairly quickly so you can use those as your starting point to drivesome quick traffic to the site. The second segment of your list should be words thatare more competitive and have more traffic and will take longer to get rankings for.You will be glad you selected keywords from each segment because you will begetting traffic from the low hanging fruit while you are waiting for the morecompetitive phrases to kick in.Because #4 is so vitally important, let’s break that down a little further.If your keywords are too generic and not targeted it will take a long time to getrankings and the traffic likely won’t convert as well. If you use keywords that are waytoo specific you won’t get enough traffic.The solution? Use a 3 tier approach.
Broad:
 
Shorter phrases and single words
Generic to your industry
Lots of traffic
Lower conversions
Focused:
 
Slightly shorter phrases
Higher traffic numbers
Phrases are still focused on what you offer
Laser Focused:
The Long Tail
Longer and more targeted phrases
Traffic numbers are smaller
People are further along in the buying process so conversion rates are higher
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