Increase Website Traffic using SEO
Agenda
Internet usage Stats Tools to increase website traffic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Key SEO Dimensions Hiring SEO professionals Some useful SEO resources
Internet Usage
Statistics
There are 1.6 Bn internet users in the world There are close to 200 million websites (including blogs) Google searches around 1 trillion web pages
This means there is a flood of information on the internet. How do you ensure that your website stands out and is among the top results displayed for its search-category?
Tools to increase website traffic
Some main ways to increase traffic:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Paid Listing Affiliation Advertisement E-mailing Partnerships
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) SEO is the set of methods and tools used to get listed in the initial results of the main search-engines based on keywords that are related to your goals
Main SEO dimensions
Technical Editorial Reputation
Technical
The main techniques are: Defining parameters in robots.txt file Optimizing folders' classification tree Using appropriate HTML markup
Editorial
Write stuff that would interest your readers (understand the concept of two messengers and how search-engines "read" you) Optimize content, mainly text, using keywords that are relevant to your category Optimization refers to sound repetition of words, positioning near the BODY tag, positioning in titles, accentuation, etc.
Reputation
Reputation is measured by the number of incoming links to your page It is one of the key parameters in calculating Page-Rank It matters if the incoming links are coming from well-established sources of your domain
Parameters used for indexing pages are many - more than two hundred in Google - and their weight is unknown and shifting. Indeed, search-engines modify their algorithm as the Web evolves. Therefore, even though some good practices always remain, optimizing a website is a never-ending task
Hiring SEO professionals
Some tips if you want to outsource SEO activities:
Use Freelances: They are less costly; Check their references to know about their work Start optimizing your site at the design phase Negotiate a result-commitment; introduce a performance element clause in your contract Use Web Analytics tools to measure the outcome of your SEO efforts
SEO Resources
Here are a few resources to explore SEO further:
The Wikipedia page Words from Google itself on its site and in this document The excellent site SEOmoz which offers a blog and many tools This exceptional page where the best experts discuss and evaluate the influential criteria Search Engine Roundtable a blog which offers a good perspective on this microcosm
Thank You
The Palermo Project
A blog about internet strategy and entrepreneurship (http://thepalermoproject.com)