Learn SEO | Search Engine Optimization Tips and Techniques

Do you ever get an idea and get excited about it but just cant seem to figure out how to implement it? Maybe it isn’t that you can’t figure out how to make it work, you just don’t have the skill set or resouces to make it happen. I have found myself in this situation a couple times in the past and let a great opportunity pass me by.

The first time was back in June of 2000.  I purchased the domain name PanAmerican-Translations.com and set about setting up a system to duplication English websites in Spanish. In this instance I worked with a local native speaking Spanish language school teacher to duplicate a Houston based industrial website. It worked great. It took us about 3 weeks to duplicate the site and it was identical in every way except the language.  At that time it wasn’t hard to get up the search engines and we were near the top of AltaVista which was the top search engine of the time.  We received calls from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of PA for a site translation and a little known site at the time called Overstock.com. We scrambled to find help and resources who could see the potential, but here in rural Kentucky in 2000, the Internet was still not well known. Well needless to say we missed those two opportunities. We did approach a local businessman about an investment of 50K to get us started and he was ready to help us when at the last minute he was told by a fellow businessman that this “Internet thing” was never going to take off.  uuggghhhh…   We tried for several more months but could not garner the resources we needed to make this work. I wish I knew then what I know now. Now that is a saturated market.

I had several other ideas over the past couple of years that I could not get off the grown for technical reasons. Basically I did not have the knowledge to write the programs needed to make then work. One idea was to build a website with secure access that would allow parents to log into a network of daycare facilities at any time to check on their children via webcam.  We would place webcam’s in daycare’s and then provide parents with login credentials to be able to access that particular daycare and view their kids and chat with the people working there.  There were serveral other ideas over the years that never came to fruition.

Now I find myself in a similar situation. I have an idea but don’t have the technical expertise to make it happen. But I have also figured out what my major problem is. I had a fear of revealing my idea to someone that might be able to write the program. I thought they would take the idea and run and leaving me hanging. So I guess the problem I have is not so much technical but one of trust.

I have an idea for a Twitter based site that I believe would do really well and am looking for a programmer that would like to take a chance on an idea with me.  It is a rather simple concept that requires users to be able to log in and manipulate their data and make parts of it visible to others.  So, if there are any programmers out there who are into social networking and looking for a new project, send me an email at info@logodesign77.com.  Who knows………we may have a dud, but then again we may have the next great idea.

On May 6th I posted how a theme change on the blog caused my Google ranking to drastically drop and that I intended to go back to the old theme and layout.  Well I made that change and waited for the friendly Google spider to pay me a visit. I am pleased to say that x7SEO.com is now back on the second page of Google for the search “learn SEO”. Now I just have to work to get it to the front page of Google. One step at a time.

Lesson learned:  Be prepared for a change in your search return positions when you make major changes to the layout of your site or blog……..

What has your experience been?

If you are any kind of barbecue fan then you have heard the term “low and slow”.  Search engine optimization is like a good barbecue. To be effective and long lasting SEO needs to be low and slow as well.  The best barbecue is when the meat has spent 16 or so hours on the smoker with indirect low heat and everything cooks at a nice even temperature and the smoke is allowed to penetrate the meat.

Search engine optimization, if done correctly, is also a process that takes time. If you are expecting your website to instantly pop in on page one of Google I am afraid you are going to be in for a rude awakening. I will admit there are times when a new website ranks well but that is usually for some obscure keyword or phrase that has no competition.  But for the most part a website entering into a highly competative arena is going to take time to rise up the search rankings.

My first attempt at smoking a brisket was a disaster. It cooked way to fast over heat that was about double what it should have been. Grease from the brisket started a fire in the smoker and it went down hill from there. I tried to salvage what I had but when I finally thought it was all done it was barely fit to eat. The outside was almost black from the crust that had formed when the fire erupted. The middle was barely cooked and most of the juices had been sucked out.

The same thing will happen if you try to rush your SEO campaign. I can guarantee you that if you use shadey techniques to get that top spot you will have a fire eventually and Mr Matt Cutts will come put your fire out in a serious way by banning your site. Shadey SEO techniques include hidden keywords, buying text links, link schemes, keyword stuffing, etc…..   If you conduct your SEO campaign correctly you will have a great site that is well done and ranks well on Google and the other search engines as well.  Like smoking a slab of ribs or a brisket, SEO has to be planned and prepped and then given time to grow naturally. Here are some of my tips for a great search engine optimization campaign.

• Plan your site with search engine optimization in mind.  That means designers and SEO people need to put their ego’s aside and work together to create a site layout and navigation that is people friendly and spider friendly.
• Go organic – don’t by links from large companies that promise you a hundred inbound links for x amount of dollars. You never know where those links are coming from and odds are those companies are on the radar of the search engines and it doesn’t take much to follow that link trail to you.
• Great content – If you want naturally occurring one one way in bound links (read organic) then you have to have something worth linking to. Write great content that people will want to read and use. Make your site a resource that people will come back to over and over again.
• Don’t rush things – SEO takes time and you must be patient. Quality always grows over time.  Sure you can go out and do a thousand link exchanges in a month but that kind of activity raises a red flag with the search engines and is more than likely to get your site banned or at the very least buried deep in the search rankings
• Don’t be too flashy with bells and whistles on your site – Your website needs to look good and make a good first impression. But if you have too much going on and it causes your site load slowly people are not going to wait around. It is kind of like biting into a rib that has been cooked too fast…… it is tough and chewy and not very good…… usually winds up with the dog munching on it.

Of course there are many other things that go into a good SEO campaign but at the core is a slow process that isn’t too hot that produces good long term results.

There are of course the technical issues such as page titles, descriptions, keyword selection, navigation and such and I will touch on those in future postings.  What is your SEO technique like? Low and Slow or Hot and Fast??

Is your website easily readable on a mobile device?  With more and more people accessing the web with mobile phones and devices, it is becoming increasingly important to provide an option on your website that allows the mobile user to view your content easily.

Let me preface this by saying I am not an expert at mobile accessible websites – this is based on my experience.

There are several ways to this such as duplicating the content of your site in a different layout with a .mobi extension or by using a sub domain with link off your main page.  When it comes to the actual site that will be viewed on a mobile device there is one rule that stands above the others:  Keep It Very Simple.  Stay away from heavy graphics and provide the user with the information they are seeking.  There are a variety of screen sizes and resolutions with mobile devices and this can become a challenge when trying to present the same information you have on your three column blog to the mobile viewer.

Several of my websites are directory or “hub” sites which provide a massive amount of information to the viewer and my challenge is to present that information in an easily accessible way. I am able to accomplish this by setting up my mobile site in a single column format with no graphics.  I am reminded of outlines I used to do in school where we had major topics, sub topics and then sub sections of those.

The opening page of the mobile site has a text blurb about the information available and how to access it and then links to various topical pages within the site. Each sub-page then has a single column displaying the information for each item.  There are times when photos or graphics are necessary but I try to keep them to a minimum.  On a side note, be sure to use alt tags on your graphics and photos as some mobile devices do not display graphics.

In the coming weeks I will be converting one of my sites into a mobile accessible site and will post the url to the main site and the mobile site for you to review.

What are your tips and techniques for displaying your websites on mobile devices.