If you are one of those people that feel like you need to go at lightning speed when you start anything you will want to try to slow things down when you start your search engine optimization efforts. You want to make sure you have the basics down right before you do anything else. The basics will follow you through your entire search engine optimization campaign or career so it is always important to get these steps right.

Here are some SEO 101 rules you should always follow:

1. Keywords – Identifying keywords is most likely going to be the first step with anything you do. I always hear from people that they already know their keywords and then generate a list for me that have 10 or so relevant keywords. I then take that list and generate a few hundred or so. Don’t assume you know your keywords because there are always different variations that people are using and if you miss out on those words you could end up missing out on a lot of valuable traffic. And ALWAYS make sure the keywords you select to target on each page of your website are 100% RELATED to the great content you have written for that page.

2. Patience – If you are looking for results tomorrow I wouldn’t even try to attempt search engine optimization for your business. SEO is something that requires a great deal of time and effort. Results are carefully monitored over a certain period of time. Generally it takes 6 months of aggressive search engine marketing efforts to start seeing some sort of positive results. Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying or trying to pull a fast over you.

3. Rankings are Not Everything – Sure the end game for your SEO is to get your website ranking for your popular industry search terms but don’t be discouraged when your website is not number 1 in the search results. Rankings are not the only byproduct from search engine optimization. There are many other positive things that occur from conducting search engine marketing efforts. You want people to bump into your articles and press releases and not just your website.

4. Don’t Cut Corners – If you think that an effort you might be doing might raise an eyebrow with Google or any of the other major search engines avoid doing it at all costs. General rule of thumb is that if you think it might jeopardize your website’s rankings it could very well affect you down the road so you are better off just avoiding the situation.

5. Content, content and more content – Content is probably one of the most important factors when it comes to SEO. Good content will always go a long way. Whether it is content in an article, press release or even a profile it is always important to put 100% into any content you are writing.

These are just the basic SEO 101 rules to really always keep in the back of your mind. As your business grows you will learn other basics that you will end up carrying throughout the lifespan of your search engine marketing campaign. And remember there is NO crystal ball out there to solve all of your SEO challenges!

Have you ever been to a website where there is so much going on you almost start convulsing? There is a thin line between having good on site search engine optimziation and way too much. I often times visit websites where the footer has hundreds of links mashed in between content followed up with even more links. Whoever decided that this was a good approach to take?

Some websites clearly focus so much on the search engine optimization that their website starts to suffer on the user experience side of things. You have to keep in mind that the whole goal of your search engine optimization is to drive website visitors to your website for one reason or another. Whether this to make a purchase or to submit their information to you as a lead. These visitors are not just numbers they are actually humans with real feeling and emotions. I think sometimes people stare at analytics information and SEO recipes so much that they forget that unique visitors are actually real breathing human beings. Those human beings need to land on your website, analyze what is going on and decide whether they want to spend more time on your website and perform the intended action that is needed. All this happens very quickly so if your homepage is more worried about SEO than conversion aspects your audience will react to this in a negative way. There are many different opinions out there when it comes to search engine optimization and marketing so it is important to really navigate through them with caution. Not all recommendations are good recommendations. Some could hurt you just as quick as they help you. Stuffing your website with links and really cluttering up the pages could lead to a variety of problems. Not only could load time of your website be really impacted but you then have to worry about the search engines and what they consider spammy marketing attempts. They read all the links on your website so if you are taking a distasteful approach you could be penalized for it down the road.

Always put yourself in the shoes of your visitors and ask yourself if you would like that experience if you came to a website. If the answer is no than you might want to re-think your approach a little bit.

During tough economic times it is very easy to want to take on every client possible in order to keep things moving. If you want your business to be profitable you must really understand your client’s needs and goals ahead of time. You really have to understand their needs along with their expectations before you take them on as a client.

Make sure to clearly go over your process and procedures so that down the road no hiccups occur. Communication right out of the gate is the most important part of taking on a new client. If communication is not established right from the initial process than the relationship will never strengthen. You can’t build a relationship just over email. It is important to understand their goals clearly. You can’t assume that every client wants the same thing. Some are looking to increase sales and some are more worried about online branding, two very different goals that require different steps. If you don’t clearly differentiate their goals in the early stages then your campaign could lead to a disgruntled client. Once you hit this stage it is very difficult to exit this stage without some real teeth pulling efforts. Take the time to understand the history of the business. Things like how long they have been in business and if they have ever worked with an SEO firm in the past. Take the time to learn the technology of the website. Will it mesh with your team? Do you actually have the capabilities to make the necessary changes on that particular website?

These are all questions you should be asking yourself before you take on a new search engine optimization client. If you don’t take the time prior you could find yourself loosing valuable resources down the road. Go over the project with your team. Get their input to make sure this is a client that could fit well with the culture of the company. There are plenty of firms out there that will take on the client if you can’t. The client will most likely appreciate your truthfulness and you never know what it could lead into down the road. If you take on a client that is clearly not right for you than you could end up with a reputation management issue for yourself down the road. We all know all know how difficult those can be to take care of once they have started to snowball.

For some reason there are some people out there, that automatically classify SEO professionals as spammers but when done correctly all we really do is clean up search results and allow search users to find exactly what they are looking for. When you proceed with your SEO efforts the right way you will get much more out of your search engine optimization program.

Here are few tips below to keep in mind when to always try to get the most out of your SEO campaign:

1. Find and Know your Audience – I know this might sound crazy but you have to make sure you are not spinning your wheels where your audience does not exist. Whenever you decide to focus on spending time on a specific website you have to truly put yourself in the shoes of your audience and ask yourself if your audience is there. If you sell insurance and you just randomly follow people on Twitter you might not be hitting your target quite right. Find the follower of major insurance companies and follow them. You have to put this thought process into every website you decide to target when marketing yourself.

2. Title Everything! – Titles for almost anything you do online is a great way to get your social networking profile, article or press release ranking. I know that sometimes you might want to put a more cutesy type title but you have to ask yourself the purpose of you effort. You want people to find it right? So incorporating some keywords you might be interested in targeting in your title is very important to get that specific marketing effort ranking. Cute titles work once you have a large brand built and visitors look for you regardless. If you are just starting off and getting going it will be important to do anything you can to get search engine traffic to find you naturally.

3. Use Everything at Your Fingertips – If you are under the impression that something might not work don’t be. The name of the game is to have as many connecting points or links pointing to your website through a variety of different sources. You might think that launching a video for your business and pushing it through all the social networking websites might not work for you but the truth is that it will. Every effort has the potential of being found by your audience. This is why it is important to have as much lingering out there as possible.

These are just a few important tips when ever executing your ongoing search engine optimization efforts for your business or website. Each little improvement can make a very big difference when it comes to your websites long term SEO.

Let’s take a moment to analyze what or who I should say makes up the entire SEO industry. If you are going to compare one vendor to another it is important you are apples to apples with the companies or consultants you are comparing. Let us take a moment to compare some the individuals and companies that you put your trust in every single day to help build your business online.

1. Fly by Nights – With the economy the way it is right now you are going to see more of these random “SEO” websites popping in the search results. It doesn’t take much to get a website up and running. Don’t let some trust badge or Google logo on their website fool you. Many are taking one day training courses maybe a webinar and all of a sudden they are an expert. Search for their name and see what you find online. Are they good at marketing themselves? They should be. Do you they have some sort of client list or resume? If someone is classifying themselves as an expert they will be more than happy to go over their resume with you if it is a matter of getting you as a client.

2. Web Designers – Many web designers are starting to offer SEO on their websites but that doesn’t mean they know search engine optimization. Web design and SEO are two very different things. That is not to say that every web designer out there is not capable of properly executing search engine marketing efforts but it is a different type of animal that requires a different type of experience. A web design company that decided to throw up an SEO page during slow economic times should not be your first choice unless they clearly have a department that knows what they are doing and is established.

3. Software – Software does not grow a business. I cannot stress this enough. A large portion of SEO is marketing which requires some sort of human element or touch. You need to be able to put yourself into the shoes of your audience and no a software program. There are some programs that can shed light on certain holes in your marketing approach but that is most likely the extent of how the data should be used. There is no magic pill or easy way out with SEO. It takes time and patience along with human brain monitoring and executing all efforts.

4. Offshore – It is ok to work with someone offshore if your website is targeting the audience where that person exists. Why would you want to hire someone to conduct SEO in a foreign country for your business if you are targeting the U.S and they have English as maybe a second or third language? There will be some disconnect on what types of words should be used when conducting keyword research and optimizing your website. You want to work with someone that is English speaking if you are targeting a U.S audience. Yes the inexpensive prices of going with someone oversees can be very appealing but you will pay for it in the long run.

5. Experts – These are the individuals and firms that have been around for quite a while. They have a generous amount of visible clients, come with years of experience, and clearly offer a healthy organic approach to search engine optimization and marketing. These are the entities that clearly offer their resume for potential clients to view along with client references that have nothing but good things to say about them. They also know how to market themselves. Have you seen them in multiple areas online? Are the search results for their name filled with nice juicy related content? Is their address clearly visible portraying that all work is done on U.S soil? These are the individuals and companies that stand out and very well should from the above type of SEO’s.

It is important to take the time and analyze what type of SEO person you might be speaking with. Make sure you get it right the first time because the last thing you want to do is have to switch vendors six months down the road when it could have just been avoided right from the start.

There are many different ways to achieve good quality search engine optimization results online. When SEO was first introduced about ten years ago the approach was a very technical one. It came down to things looking like a science project rather than true marketing. Over the years there has been a slow transition. The search engines where never supposed to be manipulated by a mathematical approach in order to get things to rank well. As the transition occurs it will be important to figure out what type of SEO you are. Do you like to market a business and build it through a variety of online marketing approaches or do you like to take a much more technical approach with your links?

Whichever approach you chose it is important to realize that the search engines are constantly evolving and moving away from a technical approach. As they grow their focus on offering the cleanest and most relevant information this will only become stronger. The search engines are already showing signs of rewarding those who market a business with the means of growing a business through a variety of quality online marketing and branding efforts rather than just putting a number value on how many links one can achieve. A technical approach is what the search engines are really trying to move away from. If you are an online marketer the search engines want to see you build rankings from building your brand online not through finding loop holes. Things like online PR announcing newsworthy topics and positioning yourself as an industry expert through proactive article marketing. Things a real business would do to market themselves if the internet never existed. Search engines want to see a heavy focus on social media marketing as well. Social media marketing takes time with a quality approach so no fly by night who wants to generate a specific number of links is going to take their time to actually communicate with their audience online through a series of conversations. The technical SEO approach has a shelf life that will soon expire. Those ridiculous promises of thousand of directories or “article blasters” will soon be a thing of the past.

Being an internet marketer for many years now I have heard some really out of whack misconceptions when it comes to SEO and how it helps grow a business online.

Here are some of the most important misconceptions of SEO that I think should be called out:

1. It is all Technical – Search engine optimization is only about 15-20% technical. The rest requires a marketing approach. Think about it, if you are trying to get rankings in the search engines don’t you have to put yourself in your audiences shoes and anticipate what they search for, what they read and what they want to see on your website? That requires a marketing hat.

2. Rankings Happen Quick – Search engine optimization is time and labor intensive. It takes time to get things moving in any direction. Nothing happens over night or even in one month or two.

3. I Only Need to Do It for 2 Months – SEO does not have a finish line. When you take a marketing approach to your SEO it is something you never really stop doing. Why would you stop marketing your company? You wouldn’t and that is why your SEO should never stop either. Rankings are not the only goal for search engine marketing. Building many relevant one way links is also a goal. This can only happen over time.

4. SEO Costs $39.95 – When it comes to search engine marketing you really get what you pay for. That doesn’t mean it should cost an arm and a leg but price should be appropriate to amount of work and man hours put into a certain effort in order to get it right. Prices that sound to good to be true usually are. Do you really think you can grow a business online successfully for the same cost as a cup of coffee per day?

5. SEO Software Should Do the Trick – Search engine optimization cannot be put on auto pilot by some software program. Some software’s are capable of isolating gaps or errors in your website or campaign but that still requires you as a business owner or marketer to make the necessary changes to get things moving in the right direction.

There are many misconceptions in the SEO industry and over time they should all be cleared up as the industry continues to mature and evolve. I only highlighted several that came to my mind, please feel free to share any that you may have heard.

If you have been conducting search engine optimization efforts for your website for some time and you are wondering why things just are not working out like they should you might want to take a step back and take a look at some other factors that could be holding your website back from climbing in the rankings.

Here are a few important areas to consider when marketing your online business:

• Proper Steps? – Did you dive into link building or did you take the proper steps to optimize your website first? If you’re trying to build links without taking the time to focus on your website first you will never see the results you are looking for. Link building before on-site optimization is a lot like putting the buggy before the horse.

• Brand Power – Have your tired to increase the power of your brand? Strong branding elements often times will get a website visitor to reconsider things when they make it to your website. Try either re-branding or branding your business website even more to get people interested what you have to say. Branding is playing an even more important role in today’s market place than it ever has before. Website traffic wants to see your logo and company info in many different places so make sure that you are branding your business actively.

• Website Structure – This is very important, have you taken them time to make sure the layout of your site is completely ready for your business goals. If your goal is online sales on your online store than you should have many ways for that website visitor to make it to your online store. If you want leads your lead form should be visible on every page of your website. You want to make sure your URL’s to all your web pages are clean and optimized and all content is clearly visible on all your web pages.

• Age of Website – Did you just launch your website a few weeks or months ago? If you just recently launched your website you will have to diversify your marketing approach until you start ranking in search results. Rankings are given to websites who have been around for some time and you have to have your expectations in order when launching a recently new website.

Search engine optimization requires a unique and carved out plan that requires some patience and time to get right. It is more than just building relevant inbound links to your website. It is building a business and on any platform building a business brings its own challenges.

Search engine optimization was once a very powerful form of communication and marketing by itself but as time has pushed on and the technology has changed, morphed and evolved SEO alone will become less potent than it once was. However SEO is still very important at the very minimum and should always be implemented and taken seriously but coupled with other forms of internet marketing SEO becomes a much more powerful driving force in the online marketing space.

Search engine marketing comes in many different slices and search engine optimization is really just one slice of the marketing pizza. There are many different approaches to SEO which is primarily why so many website owners have a hard time putting a definition on what it really is. It is important that whenever feasible other aspects of online marketing are introduced with your search engine optimization efforts. This will help strengthen your SEO by not only allowing for new pathways to your website but it shows the search engines that you are diversifying your online marketing approach and trying to build your business online the right way. Remember that the search engines are always changing and what helped them grow in rankings a few years ago does not necessarily work now. The search engines reward those who take a diversified approach to their online marketing efforts so it is important to really take a step back and put together a comprehensive online marketing plan that is robust and full of different entrance ways to your website. Search engine marketing gathers strength in numbers so have many different quality pathways or links connecting to your website will allow for you to over time to really grow in visibility.

Social media marketing is one very important element that is just as important as SEO. It is an element that is vital in today’s market place and should be included in your internet marketing strategy at all times. Even if you have a business that is very obscure and niche it is important to find your community online and reach out to them. Depending on what you offer as a business other efforts like affiliate marketing and pay per click advertising are very important compliments to your organic marketing. You should never put all your hopes into one marketing or advertising effort but rather approach it with a multi pronged approach in order to keep things diversified if one should stop working for you.

It boggles my mind how some people will call a place a business of and actually get upset when free information is not provided where it usually is paid for. I would never in my wildest dreams call a doctor or lawyer and demand they get on the phone and start asking for free advice only to get upset that it was not provided.

If you search online you will quickly find that there are ample amounts of free information regarding the search engine optimization industry. Everything from detailed how-to guides to lists of qualified sources that can walk you through virtually almost any problem you might have with your website. There are also numerous forums that are updated every single day with very new fresh information relating to the search industry. Most of the forums are littered with internet marketing experts smacking their chops waiting to get involved in good forum thread discussion. There is no reason why anybody should call a place of business and weasel their way to try to get free knowledge and information, information that clients pay top dollar for. I usually smell this within the first few seconds on the phone with a person. After conducting internet marketing for many years my knowledge is valuable. You shouldn’t get upset when I offer my consulting rates when specific SEO related how-to questions come up over the phone. This is not to say you can ask about process and method but detail how-to questions should not be coming up during an initial sales call. We are not a soup kitchen. We provide a marketing service that helps business grow their presence online using a variety of internet marketing related efforts that took years to learn and polish. Each business situation is different. By blurting out an answer to your question we are actually doing you a disservice because there is usually more to that answer than just a quick reply.

If you really have a problem hire an internet consultant for an hour or two. If the answer helps your business grow you shouldn’t have a problem paying the fees for a few hours of time from a person that has been doing SEO for over ten years. Not only will they have your undivided attention but most likely provide you with a solution and then some that could help turn your business around in a great way. Respect an SEO experts time and they will respect your problem or situation even more.