1. 1. Focusing on SEO Presented By Jeff Yette Sales Engineer Slic Network Solutions
2. 2. Slides available online http://www.slideshare.net/jeffyette
3. 3. Who is this guy? Director of Sales & Marketing Slic Network Solutions since 1998 Sole Proprietor of 274web1 (Websites since 1997) 5 Years as Graphic Design Director for a 3 publication newspaper (Won a few awards for design) Attended SUNY Potsdam for Fine Art/Graphic Design
4. 4. What is SEO? Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website/web page in search engines via the "natural" orun-paid ("organic) search results.
5. 5. Look before you leap Before you can put together a SEO strategy, measure what you have first. Google Analytics Alexa Website Grader
6. 6. Google Analytics
7. 7. Google Analytics Uses a snippet of code added toeach page of your website that allowsGoogle to collect stats about visitors
8. 8. Google Analytics What does it track? Visitors (habits & technology used) Traffic Sources(where they came from and how they found me) Content (what is being viewed) Goals (is the site working for me)
9. 9. Google Analytics VisitorHabits How many visitors? How long do they stay on my site? What pages are they viewing? New vs Returning visitors?
10. 10. Google Analytics -Technology What browsers are they using? What screen resolution are they using? (Am I getting mobile users?) What is their connection speed?
11. 11. Google Analytics -Resolutions 1024 x 768 is the current standard Approximately 900 x 700 viewable
12. 12. Google Analytics -Traffic Where are my visitors coming from? Direct | Referring Links | Search Engines What keywords are they using to find me?
13. 13. Alexa Must Claim your site Receive Confirmation Email View stats similar toGoogle Analytics
14. 14. Website Grader www.slic.com is 451,170 of the 3,533,230 websites ranked by Website Grader A website grade of 87/100 means that Website Grader scores it higher than 87% other sites in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses over 50 different variables, including search engine data , website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.
15. 15. Website Grader I. Create Content A. Blog Analysis B. Blog Grade C. Recent Blog Articles D. Indexed Pages E. Readability Level II. Optimize A. Metadata B. Heading Summary C. Image Summary D. Interior Page Analysis E. Domain Info F. MOZ Rank G. Linking Domains III. Promote A. Link Tweet Summary B. Twitter Grade IV. Convert A. RSS Feed B. Conversion Form V. Analyze A. Traffic Rank B. Score Summary
16. 16. Keywords, Keywords, Keywords Keywords must have relevance and popularity Placed in virtually every aspect of your site:
    • • • • Page Titles
          • 17. Descriptions (150 words)
          • 18. Content (use tags)
          • 19. URLs
          • 20. Image names & Alt text
    BEWARE: Deliberate overuse of keywords on your site a practice known as keyword-stuffing may actually decrease your SEO as many search engines are programmed to ignore these sites.
17. 21. Look through your customer's eyes Use words & phrases your target audience uses Bird watching vs. orthinology Consider:
    • • • • Common mispellings
          • 22. Word Stemming:orthinologist, orthinolgy, etc.
          • 23. Synonyms
          • 24. Location/GEO modifers:New York Bird Watching
18. 25. Use Tools SEO Book http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/ Overture Keyword Suggesthttp://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ SEO Tool Keyword Suggest http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-suggestions-overture/ SEO Logs http://www.seologs.com/keyword-suggestion.html Digital Point Keyword Suggest Tool http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
19. 26. Where does my page rank? http://www.thumbshots.com/Products/ThumbshotsImages/Ranking.aspx
20. 27. Links Internal & External Links The more words (keywords & phrases) that point to a page, the more likely that page is to appear in search results when users run a query for those terms. External Links:Contact webmasters of related non-competing sites for reciprocal link opportunities.Make personal contact, not through an annoying automated link spammer (which will usually be ignored ). How do you tell if a potential link partner site is well regarded? Google's Web browser toolbar offers a PageRank.A link from a site with a PageRank of 10 can is valuable, while a link from a site with zero is worthless.
21. 28. Create a Sitemap A simple file often called sitemap.xml used by search engines to spider your site. http://www.mywebsite.com/index.html2011-03-01monthly0.8
22. 29. Create a Sitemap An actualwebsitethat list all of the page links on your site usually in outline format: Home Products Product 1 Product 2 Contact The fewer clicks a viewer has to make toget to relevant content the better!
23. 30. Avoid Flash & Large Images It looks pretty, but does NOTHING for SEO.
    • Not indexed (searchable) by search engines
    • 31. Not compatible in all browsers (will not work on iPhones & iPads)
    Google and other search engines give sites with fast load times higher page rankings. http://pagespeed.googlelabs.com/
24. 32. Content is KING! Your content needs to be fresh -- updating regularly and often is crucial for increasing traffic. One way to ensure that your site gets new content on a frequent basis is to integrate a blog."Get the owner or CEO blogging. Its priceless!" ~ the Search Engine JournalOwner/executive blogs are excellent way to:
    • • Reach out to clients
      • 33. Create more opportunities for internal and external linking
      • 34. Giving your site a more personal voice
25. 35. Make Sure They Can Find You You have to tell the search engines your website exist.Google Webmaster Tools Yahoohttp://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit Googlehttp://www.google.com/addurl/ Binghttp://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx DMOZhttp://www.dmoz.org/add.html
26. 36. Social Networking Blogging is just the first step.Distribute links to fresh content on your site across appropriate social networking platforms. Whether displayed on your company's account, or recommended, re-tweeted, and re-distributed by someone else, this strategy exponentiallymultipliesthe number of places where visitors will view your links.
27. 37. Social Networking Blogging is just the first step.Distribute links to fresh content on your site across appropriate social networking platforms. Whether displayed on your company's account, or recommended, re-tweeted, and re-distributed by someone else, this strategy exponentiallymultipliesthe number of places where visitors will view your links. Facebook & Facebook Places Twitter Google Places Linked In Four Square YouTube
28. 38. Social Networking Blogging is just the first step.Distribute links to fresh content on your site across appropriate social networking platforms. Whether displayed on your company's account, or recommended, re-tweeted, and re-distributed by someone else, this strategy exponentiallymultipliesthe number of places where visitors will view your links. Facebook & Facebook Places Twitter Google Places Linked In Four Square YouTube
29. 39. Conversation Rate The ratio of people viewing your website compared to the number of those who take the desired action reach the goal The most common type of conversion is a URL Destination goal - a page that visitors see only once they have completed an activity.Examples: For an account sign-up, this might be the Thank You for signing up page. For a purchase, this might be the receipt page.Most goals require some type of form.
30. 40. Wash Rinse - Repeat Give SEO changes 2 -3 months to make an impact Checkanalyticquarterly Make necessary adjustments
31. 41. While You Wait Google Webmaster Central YouTube Channel High Rankings SEO Community Forum
32. 42. Wash Rinse - Repeat Give SEO changes 2 -3 months to make an impact Check analytics quarterly Make necessary adjustments While you wait: http://www.highrankings.com/forum/