Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is serious business: what was I thinking!

Copyright © GT Bulmer
http://www.StarrBizz.com

I don't know about you, but I suffer from information overload. And it almost crippled my Internet home business by making me slow to properly optimize my website for the search engines!

I am not an Internet techie by any stretch of the imagination. I am learning ... slowly ... but much of the technology behind websites, web pages and the Internet still mystifies me.

Of course, I have teamed up with a few Internet home business marketing groups who coach and encourage me, but in the beginning, when absolutely everything about Internet marketing was totally new to me, I was so overwhelmed by information overload that I nearly missed the most significant aspect of online marketing - Search Engine Optimization, otherwise known as SEO.

This is the (brief) tale of my personal SEO awakening. Mostly, I just want to highlight a few key points about SEO that I have been learning.

First, a bit of an explanation of what SEO is and why it's so important. Simply put, SEO is the process of using targeted keywords, specific HTML source code and certain elements in the presentation and structure of a web site. All this for the purpose of improving a site's positioning in the search engines to attract, not just more traffic, but better quality traffic - that is, people who are actively seeking what you have to offer.

The more effectively a site is optimized for the search engines, the greater chance it has of ranking higher in the search results for the chosen targeted keywords. And the higher a site ranks in the search results, the more likely searchers will be to visit that site. This type of traffic is often called natural, organic or algorithmic.

One other aspect of SEO is to identify and fix problems with a web site that might prevent search engines from completely indexing or spidering the site.

I know a number of successful Internet marketers who swear by organic SEO traffic and who do little, if any, regular advertising. That is how valuable SEO is and how important it is to properly SEO your site. That is, if you're hoping or planning for Internet home business success.

Now, my SEO Awakening story! When I first began developing my Internet home business I was completely green - a true "newbie." I read about SEO and I had an inkling of its importance, but I was learning so many new things, everything seemed like a priority to me!

I have always enjoyed writing, marketing and promotion and those things appealed to me, so that's where I focused my initial efforts. When I looked at all the info on SEO, well, it just all seemed so complicated and technical and that wasn't my area of interest or expertise, so I kept putting SEO on the back burner; on my "to-do" list, to do later. What a mistake that was!

Everything else I was doing certainly had its purpose and value, but I now know that I should have made SEO a much higher priority. I now promote SEO as a starting point, the foundation of a serious marketer's online efforts.

Here's a short-list of what I have been learning, lately:

- How to read and identify certain page and design elements in the HTML source code

- How to choose effective keywords and keyword phrases (long-tail keywords)

- The importance of "TITLE" tags, "HEADING" tags and other select tags: how to use keywords in these tags and where to place them in the coding for the site

- How to backup a web site before fiddling with the files and the code

- How to work with the index.html file (basically, your website) and how to upload it to your "file manager" with your web host

- How to add or delete page elements, like banners, frames, text boxes

As you can see, if you have any SEO experience at all, I haven't really progressed that far, yet! But I am progressing, and that's what counts.

While I am still suffering from information overload, I have readjusted my priorities and have developed a renewed confidence in the future of my Internet home business.

And now that the SEO student within has finally awakened, I am experiencing a greater sense of control, empowerment and freedom in my overall marketing efforts.

Reading HTML and performing the steps towards SEO is not easy. It takes time, patience, desire and determination, but when you fully understand the value SEO has to offer, you just know it is well worth the effort.

My advice to you today: awaken the SEO student within YOU!

Sincerely,
GT
StarrBizz.com

Recommended Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Learning Resource:

Brad Callen's SEO Made Easy - and bonus items! (Note: This is a FREE eBook, but you will be asked to subscribe to my free Internet Home Business Tips newsletter)

Read my earlier blog post highlighting Brad Callen's SEO eBook:

GT's blog post: Brad Callen's SEO Made Easy eBook

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