Search Engine Optimization Exposed Part One

Search engine optimization is a consequence of outdated websites, and has fast become a very misleading and shady industry.

Don't get me wrong here. A well optimized website can multiply your traffic, leads, and sales tenfold, but it's time to get real about it.

I'm guessing here, but I would say more than half the websites on the Internet today were built before search engines even became popular. And a huge number built after that were built by designers that still had no clue of the power of search engine optimization.

Anybody with a bit of SEO knowledge can tell you at glance if your website is optimized or not. What I'm saying here is, there is no such thing as an audit. If a car has three wheels, most people would know it won't work, right?

By now you probably thinking "Ok, but how do I fix it?". Simple. You don't. Fixing is not the answer. Picture that you bought a small, four door sedan five years ago. Today, you see your long time competitor zoom by in a brand new sports car. I doubt getting some cool wheels and a new muffler is going to fix it.

Same thing with your website. I know now you're thinking that I'm trying to sell you on a new website. You're right. I am.

Let's look at it your way; the money way. Unfortunately, just like in every growing industry, you paid a fortune for your now outdated website. This is the same as consumers who paid top dollar for a two megapixel camera five years ago, just to find out that now you can buy a 12 megapixel camera for a third of the price.

On top of that, older websites where done with Flash or HTML, costing you money every time you need changes done. Oh, I almost forgot, SEO was the topic here. So now you're either paying somebody that has promised your website would be on Google's page one, or you're are getting a ton of emails (mostly from India), telling you that they are the solution to your problems. Let me clear that up for you. They are not, and here is why.

First of all, there is no such thing as page one. Anything can be searched in different combinations, and even if that was the case, there are only ten spots on page one. Not only are they already taken, but there are also hundreds of other sites waiting to move up ahead of you.

Kill three birds with one stone, but do it right. Don't cheap out here, this is an investment in the future of your business. Believe me on this one, over the next five years, if you are not found on the Internet or have a large loyal clientele, your business is history.

Get a new website that conforms to today's standards (Web 2.0). Make sure is built search engine optimized, make sure it is mobile friendly, and use a CMS (content management system) such as Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal (to name a few).

Since Web 2.0 and mobile friendly go without saying, I'll just move on to already search engine optimized.

Building a website that hits the ground running on search engines requires a lot more that a web designer. It requires marketing and business knowledge.

The recipe for a pre-search engine optimized website starts with an online business plan and strategy. The builder must understand your business as well as you do, and the mechanics of the site should have priority over looks, however, it must look good enough to attract people.

This combination will ensure that you are found by people looking for exactly what you're offering. But keep in mind that that is the equivalent of having people show up at your store every day. Your success still depends on your product, sales ability, and customer service.

Lastly, CMS (content management system). I personally use Joomla to build sites, but the other mentioned systems are good too.

A CMS built website can be a simple website, or a very powerful interactive site with users, forums, online stores, or even your own networking site. These systems are very user friendly, and once set up, they do not require any HTML or code knowledge to operate. This means you, an employee, or multiple users can easily manage the website at no extra cost.

One more thing about search engine optimization. It takes about six months for a website to settle into place on search engines. It's a good idea to pay an expert to work on SEO for this period of time. Afterwards, what changes the positioning of your site would be content quality and frequency.

I have 14 websites for different markets. Every single one of them shows up on page one or two for their respective target keywords. I don't do much work on them past the six month mark other than monitor their positioning.

I hope this helps clear up some of the SEO myths out there. If you find this article interesting, please share it with others. If you still have questions, you can find me at www.media50inc.com

Note: This article deals only with search engine optimization. There are other factors that also improve your search engine positioning, such as link building, page rank, engine submission and geographical domain positioning. I'll touch on these in future articles. We tweet all original articles, so feel free to follow us on Twitter to stay informed.

-Juan Fanzio

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