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Do-It-Yourself SEO Basics
By Luke Petterson |
Here's the scenario: you've just launched a new web site, now you need to get some visitors.
There are many ways to drive traffic to your site, including but not limited to:
- Tell people you know to go there
- Put your web site address on all your marketing materials
- Work on getting your site indexed and ranked in popular search engines
In this article, I'll focus on getting you jump started with Search Engine Optimization, better known as SEO. You might find it worthwhile to hire a professional to aid in your own SEO efforts, but there are a few things you can do on your own to give your site a chance in search engine rankings.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is the process of “optimizing” your web site so that it ranks well for specific keyword searches in various search engines. Sounds simple enough, but it gets complex very quickly. I won't bother with the complexities in this article. Instead, I will focus on the simple things you can do to “optimize” your own web site.
SEO Requires Time and Patience
Improving your search engine ranking doesn't happen overnight. The first thing that you need to know as a do-it-yourself search engine optimizer is that you'll need to put in a lot of time and effort to reach your goals. If it does turn out to be easy, then great! But, most of the time you need to work hard to improve your rankings over a period of time.
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Smile and Nod: Marketing when you’re clueless.
By Jason Jacobson
Originally from Fargo, North Dakota I can’t call myself a city slicker, but I sure felt like one this weekend when I attended the Medora Musical in Medora, North Dakota. As I perused the shops of homemade taffy, embroidered horse sweat suits and Native American themed dream catchers, I couldn’t help but ask myself who would buy such novelties. I’m sure all of us have been to a tourist trap. I’m not saying Medora is a tourist trap, the meals were great and the show was entertaining. But, I never stopped to wonder why I actually purchased jalapeno pickled baby corn. Frankly, I’m not sure I could’ve explained why anyone would buy the wares in those specialty shops. As I meandered from store to store, I started to think more about how anyone could sell this specialty junk (it’s junk to me, sorry if I offended any cowboys out there).
How do we sell things we don’t use, like or understand? The easy answer is the sleezy answer. Just sell it LIKE you love it and want it. Call me a purist, but I think there are ways of marketing that don’t involve stooping to a used car salesman’s level, even though I look real good in polyester.
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