SEO – TRUTH, MYTH, and LIES – PART 10
Wrapping Up
Well, here we are – the last our 10 part series on SEO – Truth, Myth, and Lies. We are going to take the best elements of the last 10 sections and create an action plan for your SEO efforts in 2013.
The Truth – the DO LIST
- Make sure your site has something UNIQUE to offer
- Update your website regularly with fresh original content
- Write content for your AUDIENCE
- Create Backlinks NATURALLY
- Make sure your website passes validation tests: W3C Validator
- Have a PROFESSIONAL WEB DEVELOPER create your website
- Separate Content from Markup
- Use Keywords in Backlinks – VERY SPARINGLY
- Use RESPONSIVE web design
- Use Social Media to engage your audience and promote your brand
The Myths – Things that could cause SEO issues
- Using Keywords in all of your backlinks
- Using EMD – Exact Match Domains
- Overuse of WordPress Categories
- Not using semantic Markup in blog posts
- Using Free – or low cost WordPress or other CMS templates
- Using Create Your Own Website software such as Weebly, Website Tonight, or other similar services
- Using Keywords in all of your headings
- Creating content for the search engines
- Participating in Link Building Services
- Not using latest standards such as HTML5, and Responsive web design
- Slow – Outdated websites
The Lie or LIES
- Content is King – it is not – it is simply ONE PART of successful SEO
- I can create my website myself – This usually leads to sites having to be re-built later on
- My SEO guy only does SEO – Make sure your SEO guy has extensive technical knowledge
- Exact Match Domains work – Google’s Matt Cutts has stated these actually will cause loss of page rank
- I can create my website in WordPress – WordPress is a CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM – not a website creation system.
- I can post my own blogs – yes you can – but you need to make sure you use proper HTML markup or you are missing out on rankings
- My site looks good – I dont care about semantics, markup – etc. The search engines do care about these things, and this will cost HUGE SEO points
By now you should have a clear picture of some do’s and dont’s of SEO. SEO and marketing boil down to a few simple principles. Make sure you have something of quality to offer – either content, news, products, services etc. If you don’t have something unique, no amount of SEO is going to change that. Write your content for your audience, don’t take shortcuts, follow best practices, and make sure you are using the latest technologies.
One of the most important things when seeking out an SEO company to handel your marketing needs, is to make sure your SEO person undertands proper coding techniques, and knows how to create websites writing their own code – not just using free WordPress templates and doing some basic backend configuration. If they do not undertand how to create websites by writing code you are 100% without a doubt loosing out on over 50% of your potential SEO rankings.
Check out the SEO website Launch from our friends at placement labs!
As always – with any sort of marketing, service, etc – You Get What You Pay For.
