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02.09.10 Versing Yourself In The SEO Fundamentals  By Patrick Hare Search Engine Optimization Training is useful in a variety of website design and development fields beyond pure SEO. Editors of newspapers with online editions have learned that an SEO-friendly article title with a demand-driven keyword focus can provide a traffic advantage in both natural and news aggregation results. Ecommerce shopping cart SEO knowledge helps programmers build web stores that get cached in Google, and when it comes to building strong internal links, SEO training may be the difference between top 5 results and a trickle of traffic from the second page. Aside from improving your website ROI, here are some other real world uses of SEO training:
• Doing market research with the Google Keyword Tool • Using Google Analytics to model in-store customer behavior • Using competitor link analysis to discover potential new clients or vendors • Analyzing competitor meta descriptions to get ideas for messaging in collateral and direct mail pieces • Helping your independent sales contractors get an edge over their counterparts in other companies. How do you get SEO training, without signing up for a class? Obviously, the first thing to do is head for your nearest search engine. There is a lot of information about SEO that can be learned online, from the basics to advanced techniques. The pitfall about getting all your knowledge online is that SEO techniques can spoil over time. Last year's article about "proven SEO techniques" is probably a little stale, but anything from 5 years ago is practically toxic. Whenever possible, you should be looking for the most modern trends in SEO, and one way to do this when searching is to put the current calendar year in your search term. At the very least, you won't be getting advice on dangerous methods like doorway pages, link exchanges, and cloaking. Some of the best places to learn DIY SEO techniques are: One of the standard disclaimers for any kind of SEO training is that the best way to get search engine rankings is to start with a site that people will want to see and share. You have to be a resource for your topic, even if your goal is to make money selling products. How can you do this? One way is to create original content about the item, including tips on installation, replacement, activation, and so on. If you want to get into a highly competitive field like credit card merchant account services, you could add features to your site describing the process of getting an account, what to avoid, how to get the best credit card rates, and how to link your merchant account into your online shopping cart. While everyone else is just listing credit card machines and discount rates, you now have an advantage because you've got original, helpful content that people will want to point links at. Finally, it should be pointed out that basic SEO training is no substitute for in-depth experience on multiple SEO accounts. A large part of becoming an "SEO Expert" involves overcoming challenges that can crop up at any time, and staying current with search engine algorithm changes. Unless you're into self-service SEO for the long haul, retaining a professional SEO agency can represent a significant cost savings over the time and energy it takes to stay current and avoid search engine penalties. At Web.com Search Agency, our account managers are continuously learning new SEO techniques just to stay current, and we make sure to pass on a lot of information to our customers as well. This kind of "light training" allows us to help customers identify opportunities for traffic and sales growth. As a result, the SEO training we give to our customers allows them to grow their businesses in a cost effective manner, while giving them an unparalleled understanding of the online business marketplace. Comments About the Author: Patrick Hare has been managing online and offline marketing projects since 1999. From 2005 to present, he has been with Scottsdale Arizona's Web.com Search Agency (formerly Submitawebsite). Patrick provides Search Engine Optimization and Marketing advice to in-house customers and Web.com Jacksonville’s web design group. |
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