SEO, stands for Search Engine Optimization which is the process of creating targeted traffic to a website from search engines via the searching of specific keywords. Who does it? John Chow, as well as many other professional bloggers. Good enough reason to do it as well. What does this process consist of? It’s a matter of the site’s presentation, to the volume of specific keywords the site currently has, unique content on the site, amongst many other questions.

So why is SEO important?

Most of your visitors will come from search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. In order for your site to rank among the first pages of search results, you need to rank high for the competitive keyword your visitor search in order to bring targeted traffic to your site. Also, by having SEO on your site, you will receive advertisements (if you have Adsense, Bidvertiser, etc) with your relevant keywords so your targeted traffic will more likely click on your ads. In other words, SEO may bring more traffic, and with more traffic, you may receive more profits!

Performing SEO and ranking high for that competitive keyword

1. First of all, write quality content that explains in detail about your specific keyword. If you ask anybody else performing SEO on their site, this is usually what everyone points out. You need content that will make your visitors want to return. Many advise to refrain from posting more than 3 times a day unless you put considerable time and effort into your blog posts. As you update your site more often search engines will tend to favor your site even more.

2. Also avoid using frames on your website. Search engine crawlers tend to have a hard time crawling through such a site.

3. Try narrowing your topics down. This way you’ll get targeted traffic and not random traffic. Focus on a few keywords. Instead of sports, try baseball. Instead of cars, try BMW.

4. if using wordpress, use static urls instead of dynamic urls.
http://seoblogwire.com/?p=123
http://seoblogwire.com/2008/04/08/what-is-a-blog-anyway/

The first link doesn’t really say much while the second link contains the keyword BLOG in the url. To change this go to Settings -> Permalinks and change your structure!

5. Go to Google Webmaster Tools and specify which domain you want to be indexed for. I currently have mine set to http://seoblogwire.com .

6. Have you ever used the < h1 > tags? Well use them along with your keywords as I’m doing so. This will help you rank higher for your specific keyword.

7. I’ve read around that the alt=”" attribute in an image also helps if you put your specific keyword in that particular image! Doesn’t hurt to try.

8. Get relevant backlinks from sites that produce content under the same keywords. This way Google will give you more authority. Refrain from getting backlinks from sites that are irrelevant.

9. Put your keywords in your blog entry title!

10. Submit your blog entries to social bookmarking sites as Technorati, Blog Catalog, Digg, and others.

11. Go on forums and post with your link to your site in your signature.

12. Try having your keyword in multiple places around your site. Refrain from having it everywhere on one entry! Avoid keyword stuffing.

13. Use the title=”" attribute to place your keyword in as well.

14. If you are choosing a domain, try having that specific keyword in the domain as well.

15. Try validating your pages. Make sure they load up fast and properly.

16. Look at your competition, and see what they are talking about. Talk about what they aren’t!

17. Submit your site to a directory with the relevant keyword.

18. Update your site often.

19. Have links to your site with your keyword as the anchor.





Plan out carefully to have the best SEO
Before you start with a blog, research, research, research! I also got in the habit of saving my posts before publishing them so I can come back later and add more relevant content to make it a great quality post. It’s much better to have a plan, or something carefully planned than something that will be rushed.

I’ll be posting later more tips on how to optimize your site for search engines as I find more tips.

Meanwhile why don’t you sign up for my RSS feed to receive more periodic updates