Project Management Resources & Links

Don't Ignore SEO and Fall Behind

Search engine optimization is one of the hottest topics in business today. If you aren’t ware of what it is, you’re behind – way behind. It’s an online world, and search engine optimization (or SEO) is a key strategy for all businesses. Essentially, SEO entails making your website more friendly to the search engines so you can become better ranked for your keyword terms and phrases. For example, if you sell inventory software and your website is currently ranked 200th for that keyword phrase on Google or Yahoo, going through the search engine optimization process can help you get to 2nd or 3rd place, on the first page of the results for organic listings.

Here are some tips on utilizing SEO for your business:

Titles and Tags:  One of the first things to ensure is that you are placing a unique title on every page of your web site using your top keywords. This step can’t be overemphasized. It’s critical to putting you on the road to higher search engine rankings. Make sure you keep it brief and include the keywords that are really going to be the best ones to use. This will take some research, as you will see.

In terms of meta tags, there’s really only one major rule: if you want a page of your site indexed on the search engines, you need to use the meta-tag description and meta-tag keywords attribute. If it’s not necessary for a page to be indexed, then use what’s called the “robots exclusion tag”.

Have Good Content on Your Site:  Content is king! You’ve heard it said before, but its true. And it makes sense if you think about it. Just like regular people, the search engines will value a site much more if it appears to have lots of great information on it about your subject area. So, make sure you have lots of good content. Write articles, explain processes, utilize case studies and white papers. It all goes into your sites overall content. Also, make sure you use your most important keywords prominently throughout your site. One huge additional benefit? Visitors to your site will link to it and recommend it to others. If you don’t know what your keywords are, do some keyword research to determine the best set of keywords and keyword phrases your target customers are searching for and using.

Develop inbound and outbound Links:  When lots of other important sites have your link on their site, you are considered important in your industry. You also improve your SEO effort (and rankings) by doing so. How do you do it? Obtain listings in the top directories and industry-related sites.  Internal links within your website are also an important factor.

Keywords: The keywords you optimize your site for form the foundation of your search engine optimization efforts. A solid list of phrases helps you target your most profitable search engine traffic. Start a list by brainstorming and also examining competing sites and your web logs. Then draw on tools for analyzing and developing more keywords. Because your keywords are so important, you'll want to rely on your SEO company for guidance.

So, there you have it, some simple tips that will go a long way to your search engine optimization effort. Be sure to bring on a talented SEO professional to help you along the way. They are worth their weight in gold!