Search Engine Optimisation

Biz Guru says:

So you want what millions of others want – 1st page ranking on Google and Yahoo for a reasonable price?

If you want a very obscure keyword you may get it – but will it be worth the money?

Many SEO firms that gaurantee 1st page are not really worth the money. Here is what google says about this:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291&topic=8524

Work on getting your site into the major search engines in the highest place possible and then work on other marketing methods as well.
References :
http://www.getintogooglefast.com

Worry Club says:

First, if any SEO company tells you they can get you a number 1 ranking on Google or any other engine…run, run fast. Even Google’s webmaster rules will tell you the same thing…no one can promise you that as no one owns the search engines.

But, an honest SEO professional, or SEO firm can do all that is needed…without tricks to help you achievetop rankings. But, it does come with a price and depending on your budget and how serious you are will depend on how successful you can be.

You can also use DIY (do it yourself SEO) but that takes time to learn or you can just consult with an seo company and have them guide you through the process.

Trust your SEO person
Be patient with your results: SEO isn’t magic and it takes time
Have reasonable expectations on what SEO can do
Consider SEO as a partner to bring success to your online business
SEO is more than ranking and traffic
SEO isn’t everything
SEO is a balance

Prepare to pay for quality work.
You get what you pay for. Remember that adding more work to the already agreed project will cost money. Learn the basics of SEO to save your SEOs time by not asking basic questions
Prepare to create content (or hire a copywriter, or have SEO create the content as another project)
Do not change what a SEO has done to your website.
If you want to redesign, consult an expert to keep your website SEO friendly
SEO isn’t a one-time effort
Ask and answer questions

Trust your SEO
Trust is the most important thing online. When you have decided to work with a SEO, trust his knowledge, skills and experience to lead you through the way of site optimization. If in doubt, ask – there’s no harm in that. But do let your SEO do his work.

It’s unreasonable to think that with a small investment in time and money your SEO can generate millions of dollars. If they could they would be doing it for themsleves and not you. It is important to remember that SEO can help your site and business, but it can not guarantee miracles.

Be patient
Patience is a virtue. And SEO is no instant pill. It takes deep understanding of the Internet, of site building and optimization, of your industry and of people. Also, it takes time to do everything the SEO can do and even more time for the search engines to appreciate his/her efforts.

Have reasonable expectations
No matter how much experience and skill your SEO has they can’t perform miracles. If you are launching a new site in a competitive industry it may be several months at the earliest before you see any results. It may be several more months before you see the results you want.

It’s unreasonable to think that with a small investment in time and money your SEO can generate millions of dollars. If they could they would be doing it for themsleves and not you. It is important to remember that a SEO can help your site and business, but he/she can not guarantee any miracles. SEO is your partner SEO is a living person, not only with skills, but also with his own character and emotions.

Try to cooperate with your SEO to really improve your website:
talk about your business
what your customers want
what are the names they call your product (good ones)
what are your closest competitors
tell him about the most important communities in your industry (where your customers and experts get together online)
say if you plan to expand your website
answer any questions a SEO asks
at least follow the advice from this page

When working closely with a SEO, he/she will be able to better know your business and apply the knowledge to your website. If you need help promoting your site, knowing about your largest communities will help a lot.

Realize there is more to SEO than ranking and traffic Many people mistakenly believe the only goal of SEO is to improve where your pages rank and drive as much traffic as possible to your site. Traffic is only one part of the equation. If you have a product that only appeals to men, then having men visit your site is preferable to having women visit your site. If your services deal with child care then having thousands of single men and women visit your site makes little sense. SEO is about driving the right kind of traffic to your site, the kind of traffic that is predisposed to purchasing your products or services.

More traffic is not the same as better traffic. SEO is also concerned with persuading those that visit your site to contact you or make a purchase. An SEO who can bring 100 people to your site and get 50 of them to buy something is better than an SEO who brings 1000 people to your site and only gets 20 of those visitors to buy.

Understand it takes more than SEO to have a successful business Know that SEO alone will not result in a successful business. SEO isn’t a cure all for everything that ails your business. You still need to have a sound business model and you need to do what it takes to keep your customers loyal and coming back.

Your SEO can direct qualifed traffic to your site and even help you make a sale. However your product or service must still deliver on the promises you make if you want to succeed. Your SEO can not overcome an inferior product or one that has no interest to your target market. Running a business is a coordinated effort. Your message online should match your message offline. In addition to SEO you might want to consider:

Does your product or service solve a particular problem?
Will people be willing to pay a price for your product that nets you a profit?
Is there a target market for your service?
Can your customers become repeat customers?
Will your business model scale?

Consider the second point above. If you lose $1 on every product you sell, will bringing more traffic and generating more sales help your business? Know that SEO is a balance There are hundreds of factors used by search engines to rank a page. Understand that SEO is often a trade off between many of these factors.

Having less keywords on a page may make the page more likely to get links. It may be more important to optimize many pages of your site for human beings and not worry about how well those pages do in search results. Not every page on your site needs to be a landing page. Some pages on your site are a point of entry, while others are there to convert visitors into buyers.

Prepare to pay

While SEO can bring huge profit to an online business, it is hard work, too. And like every hard worker, SEO likes to be paid. It is not only a fair thing to do, it is a sign you are serious about your business and want to invest in increasing profits. The more you pay, the more you invest efforts -in your website-, the more you get. This is a simple law that has existed before the websites, SEOs and even you.

More work = more money After you have agreed for a project, the price is included in the contract. You don’t want to pay more than that, right? The SEO, in turn, doesn’t want to do more than that, either.

If you want your SEO partner to do more work, talk with him and agree on afterwards additional work. But let him finish the initial work and pay for it. Then talk about more work.

Learn the basics
One of the difficult parts of being a SEO is to educate the people on the benefits of SEO, so they’d use the services. The thing is, the benefits often don’t have anything to do about this. It is how well the people understand SEO. Learn the basic stuff on SEO, such as:
what is HTML/CSS and how to write in those languages
what are good links and bad links
what are search engine ranking factors
what is quality content?
why should I care about usability
and site accessibility?

When you do, you’ll understand what SEO is about (roughly) and will be able to understand what your SEO is talking about.

But don’t think you can tell him/her what to do. It is his job, trust him. Prepare to create content SEO is not only about getting links or about optimizing existing content. Often, it is about creating new content, too.

Prepare to create valuable resources for your visitors on various topics, related to your products. This will give your SEO some room for action and optimization. Getting links to quality content is way easier, too. Do not change the site after the work After your SEO has finished his/her work, don’t change the site.

Adding new sections is fine, just follow the guidelines your SEO has informed you about. If anything, ask your SEO what to do. Want to redesign? Consult an expert If you do want to change the site after your SEO has done his work (it may be after several months), consult him or another expert on how to redesign to keep the SEO work.

At best, your SEO will guide you how to create a search engine and a user friendly website. Use this opportunity.

SEO is a continuous effort SEO isn’t not something you do once and forget. It is an ongoing effort, just as much as your marketing or sales efforts. It takes time, budget, effort and patience. Largely, this happens because you get new online rivals.

Also, all your online competitors are willing to outspend you on SEO and be on the top of the SERPs. If you are the only one in your niche, new resources on your topic will be outranking you anyway. So stay active. Ask and answer questions While it’s important to learn what you can on your own it’s ok to ask your SEO questions to understand more of what they are doing.

It’s important to keep an open line of communication with your SEO and know what they are doing to your site and why. It’s also important to answer the questions your SEO has for you. The more your SEO can understand your business goals and objectives they better they can do their job. Conclusion In general, the main thing is to trust the person you work with and be as reasonable as possible. SEO is an investment in your business, so treat it as such.

Bonnie: SEO Consultant
References :
http:www.ontheavenues.com
http://ontheavenues-diy-seo.blogspot.com