Butler Web & Design
SEO CHECKLIST
By Sean Tambagahan, Operations Manager – Butler Web and Design
I’ve written in the past about SEO (Search Engine
Optimization). If you are new to the
phrase, I would suggest reading two of my articles: The SEO Myth, and The Magic SEO Button Fallacy. Both of those articles, along with a ton of
other free resources, can be found on Butler Web and Design’s resources page
here: http://butlerwebanddesign.com/resources.html.
The purpose of those articles was to expose the hidden
tricks that many SEO companies try to pull on unsuspecting business owners who
want higher rankings on search engines. Though
I gave some practical tips on things you can do to get better search engine
rankings, I never included a “checklist”.
So the point of this article is to provide a checklist of things that
are absolute musts if you want to get started with SEO.
1.
Get a Website
2.
Index It
3.
Create Content for your Site
4.
List It
5.
Promote It (friends and customers)
6.
Social Media
Step 1) Get a
Website
I’ve spoken with clients who weren’t interested in having
a website, but really wanted to have their business name and number found on
Google when someone did a search for their type of business. Though this is possible by creating free
business listings on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines, directories, and
social media sites, it’s a lot better if you have a website that links these
listings to your business. Your website,
in essence, acts as a landing page. If
you had business listings all over the internet, you are more likely to be
found by search engines if these listings were all linked to the same
website. The first step to great search
engine exposure is to have a website that you can link to; even if it’s a basic
site that only shows your business name and contact information.
Step 2) Index It
After your website is created, it’s important to index
your site with Google. Indexing your
site simply means adding your site to their database so that it shows up in the
Google search results. Indexing your
site enables Google’s crawlers (search programs) to find your website on the
internet.
How do you index your site? Here’s a quick 4 step process:
2)
Sign into webmaster tools using your Google
account (I you don’t have a Google Account, create one)
3)
click the button to “Add A Site”
4)
Verify that you are the site owner
“Can my website be found without indexing it?” Yes, eventually Google will find your website
among the billions of others out there; however indexing your site drastically
speeds up this process.
Step 3) Create
Content for your Site
Imagine if you went to Google to do a search for “go
green products in Clovis California” and you got a bunch of results of Go-Green
companies who weren’t located in Clovis California, and they didn’t have good
content that you were looking for, but they were able to manipulate their site
to get the top position. Now imagine if
this were to happen every time you did a search on Google. It wouldn’t be very long before you realized
that Google wasn’t a trusted source to give you relevant content, and you would
start using a different search engine.
Google doesn’t want that to happen. That’s why it’s in their best interest to make sure that you, as a searcher, are finding the content that you want to see, when you want to see it. They are good at what they do, and they’re always changing to make sure that searchers are happy with their search results. That’s why it’s important to design your website for the searchers – not the search engines.
How do you do that? Here’s a simple 2-step process:
1)
Create lots of good, relevant content
2)
Hire a good web developer that can give you a
unique design, with a good layout for your content
If you need help getting started with content creation,
check out the article here.
Step 4) List your
Site
After your website is created and indexed, and you now
have some good content for people to look at, it’s time to start getting it out
there. The first step in getting your
site out there is by creating listings in various search engines and
directories, and backlinking them to your site.
Backlinking is simply making sure that any listings you create have your
website address posted.
It’s important to know that it’s not about how many
directories you are in, but what directories you are in. You don’t want to submit your site to every
free directory you can find, because not all of them are good. If your site is on a bunch of directories
that Google deems as spammy
or as phishing scams, then
you could actually get penalized with worse rankings.
Some directories and search engines to start with are:
Step 5) Promote
your Site
After you’ve done steps 1-5, the next step is to start
promoting your website. Have your
friends, family and customers check out your website and give you
feedback. Ask them their thoughts. How does it look? How is the content? What do you suggest? Taking visitor feedback is important because
it helps you determine how helpful your site is to people who are newbees in
your industry.
Start putting your web address on your business cards,
brochures, signs, handouts… basically, anything that your customers and/or
potential customers will see.
Direct your customers and prospects to your site for
helpful resources. If they ask you
“where can I find information about ________” you should be able to say “visit
my website for that”. The more people
visiting your site for relevant content in your industry the better. Google will start picking up on the activity,
and mark your site as a helpful resource and give you better ranks.
Step 6) Social
Media
Social media is the number 1 activity with the most time
spent online; therefore Google and other search engines have incorporated
social media presence into their algorithm.
Create a Facebook page, Twitter account, or LinkedIn Profile for your
company (and don’t forget to backlink).
It does take time and dedication to build a good
following on social media. Consistency
is the key; therefore, don’t create any social media pages unless you plan on
using them. It’s pointless to have a
Facebook page with no “likes” or a Twitter account with no one following you. The point of social media is to engage with
your customers and prospects so that your name is always in front of them. When they have a need for your services or
products, they’ll think of you first because you’re engaging with them
frequently on the platform that they’re using.
That’s it! At
least to start that is. There are
definitely many other factors to take into consideration regarding SEO, and
speaking with an SEO consultant may be helpful.
Remember, SEO is not an overnight task – it’s often a slow process that
takes time, consistency, and dedication, but the reward is worth it. Hopefully you have found this article
helpful. If you have any questions or
need assistance, feel free to give us a call.
Butler Web and Design
