Search engine optimization (SEO) and Internet marketing is very often misunderstood, and it is hard to decipher the good from the bad. This short series of “SEO lessons” is designed to help website owners who are thinking about implementing a new Internet marketing SEO campaign, and to answer some of the most common questions about SEO.
This collection of my past blog articles will provide a quality lesson in SEO and Internet marketing, and I encourage you to read each article. SEO is an investment in your business, and you deserve to know what it is all about. Your investment of time reading this information can save you a lot of headaches and money.
SEO Lesson One: SEO is Not a Technology Job
Did somebody ever tell you that SEO is a function of technology? If so, I want to explain how terribly misinformed they truly are. A surgeon uses scalpels, but is not defined as being in the scalpel industry. Similarly, a search engine optimizer uses technology, but should not be defined as being in the IT industry. Use of technology is just one subset of SEO skills.
Sure, there are important matters of technology involved, such whether to use www or no www and how to do a 301 redirect, or the very important difference in a slash or no slash at the end of your web address. That is just SEO at its most basic level, but if you want to rank well in searches, there is a whole lot more to it. Find out why!
Read the full article: Search Engine Optimization is Not a Technology Job!
SEO Lesson Two: Good SEO vs. Bad SEO
There are good SEO (search engine optimizers) and there are bad SEO, and if you cannot tell the difference, your money and time will be wasted. I am going to give you some third party objective tools to tell the difference between good and bad SEO. These can help you to determine whether yours is working, whether you have hired it out, you are seeking to hire it out, or you are venturing into the ever-popular DIY SEO. The information I will provide in this article also includes some great SEO tools just to satisfy your curiosity. This can help, in case you wondered why there are not more people coming to your website, or to estimate how well your competition is doing.
Read the full article: Good SEO vs. Bad SEO: How to Tell the Difference
SEO Lesson Three: SEO Really Works
SEO Really Works: An important lesson is to understand that high quality SEO really does work, and that what we sell is not just snake oil and Voodoo. There have been many instances where I have written to prove this fact to whole industries by crafting an article and placing it at the top of search engine results within five minutes … and they stay there. It is because I have performed the right tasks on my blog to rank well.
The articles linked below give proof-positive that SEO works, and also that it can work very quickly once you have all the right pieces in place. I wrote these when I wanted to show that I could rank something, and if you ask me to, I may do the same to prove it to you. I receive a lot of traffic for cigar industry search terms, car marketing terms, and electronic industry terms because of these articles, and I don’t even sell cars, cigars, or electronics. Maybe I should.
Read the full articles:
- Cigar Prices Rising With Bad SEO and Social Media Marketing
- Topeka Kansas Car Dealer Social Media Marketing Case Study
- Smart Slate, Smart Airliner, and Other Interactive Slates
SEO Lesson Four: SEO Longevity
SEO provides both short and long-term results. The return on investment of SEO improves over time, and once the content is optimized, it will provide an ongoing SEO value. In the article titled “Can You Value Each Blog Post at $10,000?”, I provide proof beyond doubt of the longevity of results when the optimization is performed well.
Read the full article: Can You Value Each Blog Post at $10,000?
SEO Lesson Five: Keyword Selection
Selecting Effective Keywords: The next SEO lesson is designed to help you broaden your thinking about your market. This article explains how companies often take a narrow look at their industry, and that reaching their lateral market is extremely important. This SEO lesson explains how proper SEO can help to achieve more targeted traffic to your website by looking in all directions.
Read the full article: SEO Lateral Keywords
SEO Lesson Six: Ethical SEO
SEO Matt Cutts’ Way: As with any industry where millions of dollars are up for grabs, you will find good and bad characters, and good and bad SEO methods. This SEO lesson describes the right way to approach SEO, according to Google. Matt Cutts leads the Webspam team at Google. This SEO lesson explains SEO Matt Cutts’ way.
Read the full article: SEO Matt Cutts’ Way
SEO Lesson Seven: SEO Guarantees
The search engine optimization (SEO) industry has attracted a lot of bad search engine optimizers. For a good SEO, there is a lot of money involved. Wherever there is a lot of money, there is usually a lot of fraud, too. It can be really hard for the average person to know the difference between good seo and bad seo. Here is a list of SEO guarantees a good SEO can legitimately provide.
Read the full article: 7 SEO Guarantees: Yes, Guaranteed SEO Can Be Legitimate!
SEO Lesson Eight: No SEO Shortcuts
SEO: Art or Science: This SEO lesson explains the art and science required for optimum SEO results. SEO requires both art and science, and this lesson teaches why it is unwise to shortcut either discipline.
Read the full article: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Art or Science?
SEO Lesson Nine: SEO Pricing Models
SEO Rates: The rates charged by SEO companies have a wide range. Understanding SEO pricing models can be quite challenging. This lesson will help you to gain an understanding of how SEO and Web development is priced, and why what may initially look like a good value may be problematic. This lesson includes the articles as follows:
Read the full articles:
- “How Much Does SEO Cost?” is The Wrong Question
- SEO and Web Development Hourly Rates
- Contingency SEO Contracts
- How Much Does a Website Cost?
SEO Lesson Ten: Push Your Marketing “Go” Button!
Take SEO Action: This will be your most challenging SEO lesson of all, and it comes down to taking action to improve your business.
People dream up a lot of excuses to postpone positive action in their business. In decades of serving clients with marketing services, I must have heard them all. I want to distill a bit of that for you here, and hopefully boost your courage a bit.
Read the full article: Push Your Marketing “Go” Button!