Stop Sabotaging Your Success - Real Strategies to Implement Now
It is easy to point out the problems - like sabotaging your
SEO success by ignoring the long terms affects of certain
techniques.
Here are the solutions - the ways you can still benefit
from the various techniques, without contributing to their
demise.
The primary thought behind all techniques should be: "What
is natural"?
If you are constantly asking yourself, "Am I using this in
a way that the search engines will view as a natural
enhancement to my site and not as an overused and abused
method"? then you should be fine. So, Keep it Natural,
Don't (Over) Use and Abuse should be your new mantra.
Let's look at specifics.
RSS Feeds:
* Do: Use them to enhance existing content.
* Don't: Use them in place of hand written, unique content
* Do: Limit the number of feeds you use on any given page
to 3 or 4.
* Don't: Clutter every page on your site with endless feeds.
* Do: Target feeds are specific to the keywords you are
using on each page.
* Don't: Put feeds that are about other topics that are not
relevant on your site.
* Do: Turn your hottest, most newsworthy content into feeds
to get out there to other people. Blog posts are a natural
for feeding content to other people. Blogs are often
updated very frequently and are about the hottest topics in
your industry.
Article Syndication:
* Do: Post your article on your own site first, and wait
for it to be indexed by the engines before you syndicate it
out.
* Do: Date each article with the date it was written.
* Do: Interlink your articles to other articles on your
site that you have written that are relevant to the topic.
* Do: Update your SiteMap when you add articles to your
site.
* Do: Link to your article from your Blog.
* Don't: Post the article on your Blog and on your site -
that is duplicating content and can be considered spam.
* Do: Take the time to create different versions of your
article. When syndicating articles out to various article
sites, use a handful of different version. Vary the text
used as the anchor text in the links, and vary the pages
that you link to within your site in the various versions.
This will give Google what they are looking for - varying
anchor text and links going to many pages on your site, not
just one. This is one of the most important, and overlooked
steps out there. This alone can increase the value you get
from article syndication.
* Don't: Stuff your article with too many links to your
site.
* Don't: Link to pages on your site that are not relevant
to your article topic.
* Do: Create an Article Syndication Plan so that you have a
clear plan to consistently release quality articles out to
the public. Often people go crazy getting a couple articles
out there, but then never do it again. Constant
syndication, at a natural rate will get you the most
benefit.
* Do: Remember to look at the guidelines of each source you
submit to - they all have various rules for submitting
articles.
* Do: Consider the "keyword weight" of your article; aim
for a good keyword density, using 1 - 2 keywords per
article.
* Don't: Stuff the article with keywords, creating
something that is not an easy flowing read for your
audience.
* Do: Look for a unique viewpoint or angle when writing
your article. Rehashing the same old topics, sharing the
same old opinions won't get you as much mileage out of the
article.
* Do: Have fun with it. Let your personality shine through
in your writing. Articles should not be stiff and stilted.
Let your readers connect with you through your writing.
* Do: Consider breaking longer articles into a 2 or 3 part
series. This will vary how the engines see the content out
there, and it creates suspense and anticipation as readers
wait to see what the next article in the series will say.
* Do: stay on top of the latest talk, news and buzz in your
industry and be prepared to quickly pump out a great
article to take advantage of some hot buzz or breaking news
in your industry.
Press Releases:
* Do: Consider the topic of the press release, and make
sure you can say YES to the following questions: Is this a
topic that people other than me will find interesting? Is
this positive press for me and my company, without being
too filed with hype and sales pitches?
* Do: Keep the press release witty, to the point,
informational and well written. Don't elaborate on too many
small points. In a press release, often less is more.
* Don't: Send out a press release every day, unless you
have something newsworthy to share every day.
* Do: Have your press release edited.
* Don't: Send out a press release riddled with errors.
* Do: Verify all facts and information used in your release.
* Don't: Under-use releases. You should plan on 1 or 2
releases each month, as long as you have news to back them
up. More is OK only if the news is really important to
release out there.
* Do: Ask an expert if you aren't sure if your topic is
news worthy.
* Do: Include a link back to your site, where people can
get more information.
* Do: Create a section on your site where all your press
releases are archived. It is great for credibility.
With careful thought and planning, using some of your own
creative ideas and sticking to the Do's and Don'ts outlined
above, you can expect long term success with these
techniques.
Whether you handle your SEO yourself, or hire a firm to get
your rankings - be sure the focus is on long term success
and not abusing techniques.
Always stay current - if a technique is abused and no
longer beneficial, you'll want to eliminate it from your
repertoire quickly so it doesn't hurt you.
Happy SEOing!
----------------------------------------------------
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing and co-owner
of http://www.EcomBuffet.com
Since 1998, her expertise in
online marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has
helped clients increase revenue and achieve their business
goals. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on Search
Engine Optimization and has been published in many SEO and
marketing publications.
