Yes, I know, that is weird, but you know you have done it before as well.
However, with me it became a small obsession. But sadly, each time I would look myself up, I would find nothing unless I specified it down to my name, city and sometimes even age. While in college I spiced my Google search up a bit by writing for the school paper or receiving local awards, but I never really got a lot of results.
Once I graduated, I was talking to a friend one day about success. She asked how I would measure my success as I embarked on my new career. I thought for a moment and the answer was clear...Google. Of course she laughed, but I was serious about figuring out how to become a top search result.
With my new job being with Socially Inclined, I began learning all about SEO. I was pretty ticked off I didn't learn more about this in college, I mean I would be a Google celeb by now. I will be the first one to tell, I am still learning more about SEO to this day. But with a little practice and lots of reading, a few short months later I can Google JUST my name and waaalaaa that's me! My grandparents are amazed, I have them convinced I'm famous...shhh don't tell!
But my point of my completely lame, quite embarrassing story is that ANYONE can do SEO.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Why do you need this? Well, when you go to search a page, you type into your search engine what you are looking for. The results you get are not random. A lot of time and effort goes into building those pages and the content so they show up first in searches. That is SEO. SEO is basically strategies that help your web page, blog or other online information rank better in search results according to the words or phrases searched.
SEO is big, complex, scary and all that jazz, but you can do it.
1. KEYWORDS, KEYWORDS, KEYWORDS
The first step towards SEO is understand keywords. Keywords are the terms people use to find particular things on the web. Keyword optimization is the most important and valuable aspect of SEO. So how do you get started?
Research
Think about your target audience, what is it they are looking for on your site? Or, if you were searching for your site, what would you type in? These are your keywords. Anything you can think of you want to write down. However, make sure that those words really pertain to your site. It isn't about just getting traffic, it's about getting the right kind of traffic to your site.
There are tons of resources out there that will help you find the correct type of keywords. However, I find just sitting down really thinking it out helps me the most.
2. Now Use Them
The next step to getting started with SEO is easy, use what you have researched. You want to be sure that those keywords are used on your pages in more than just the obvious descriptions and keyword places.
Title Tags
Your title tags are one of the most important places to house keywords when it comes to SEO. Each page should have a tag associated with the keyword one would use to access that information.
HTML Headings
Use headings within your content for added SEO. Search engines refer to those headings when someone is searching.
Content
Your content is another place you need to be sure these keywords are mentioned. This should come naturally in your writing.
As mentioned before, SEO is very complex, so don't get discouraged if you don't understand right off. Keep searching and reading until your brain just can't handle any more. In the meantime, keep up with my blog or visit www.sociallyinclined.com for more SEO information.
