This is my first post on SEOmoz and it really is more like a request for help from my fellow Mozzers. I have been working in SEO and PPC for the last ten years or so and now am a SME for SCORE which is a resource partner with the SBA. The general mission of SCORE is to help startup and existing businesses through business counseling. Most of the volunteers are retired executives with a wealth of knowledge in their fields but very few have any knowledge about new media or search marketing.
My partner and I are giving a training session to the volunteers next quarter. She is going to talk about usability, design, social media, website structure, Internet architecture, and the basics of search marketing. I am of course speaking on SEO. After a basic introduction to search engines, PPC, link structure, etc. I want to give them some take home points that they can use right now to help their counselee’s on a day to day basis. I have tried to water down most of SEO into 8 key points for them to remember. What I would greatly appreciate from you guys, OG’s and newbie’s alike, is feedback on the ordering of the key points and if they are appropriate for a 65+ audience who counsel local small business owners.
8 Free and Easy Killer Tips, Tricks, and Tools for a Superstar Site
#1. Make sure the Website you are looking at has been indexed by the Googlebot. Do this using Google search and do not type URL in to address bar. Right mouse click on site to get page info and cached snapshot of site(IE). Right click to cache view then Google cache(Firefox). Left click on “text only version” to see how the spiders see the site.
This is what the spiders see when they look at your site.
#2. Use Google keyword tool to identify and estimate current traffic trends. Go to: (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) Type in keywords used on the site, keywords you may want to target, and keywords which are localized to your specific area. For example “computer repair Las Vegas” which will give you invaluable insight into keyword traffic before you even start marketing efforts. Global traffic is worldwide and local traffic is defined as traffic from in the US only. Play around with this tool until you find the keywords you should be targeting for your specific website.
#3. Include targeted keyword in the URL of the website. Do NOT use the name of the business and add .com. Most local small businesses do not need to be concerned with branding when first starting their online presence. Getting a first page ranking and the phone to ring is more important and the name of your business will come up first naturally with out it in the URL.
#4. Make sure your on-page SEO efforts are in line with the keywords you are trying to target for your website. The most important easy things you can immediately change to reflect your keywords are title tags, meta data, headings, and body content.
#5. Create basic social media profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. You do not need to create elaborate posts or a million tweets but just a basic profile to get your feet wet. These are no-fallow links but will help with your visibility and branding later.
#6. Claim or Create listings on Google Places, Yahoo! Local, and Bing Local. Most businesses have not even claimed their listings or the listings have out dated information which is can be detrimental for humans and spiders.
#7. Install Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. These will give basic feedback on website errors and let you know if traffic is coming in to the website from your SEO efforts as well as information about the visitors to your site.
#8. Creating original content is probably the most important tip. Local businesses always have something unique about them in their local market which separates them from national brands or others in their market segment. Tune in to these differences and bring it out in the content of the site. Google loves original content and your website will be rewarded for your efforts.
I will probably add some more slides to keep the audience interested but you guys get the general idea about the 8 points. Thanks again in advance for all your input. Cheers! Chip
