If you've done business on the web then you've heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It's that mysterious magical formula that is supposed to get your website to the top of the search engines so that you'll get more hits to your website. The reality that I've discovered based on several years of wasted time online, and this is going to be met with howls of outrage, mostly from those who want you to pay them to optimize your website, is that this is one of the biggest scams on the web.
The idea is that Google and Yahoo and the other search engines have this magic formula that you can abide by that allows your website to be placed in their searches depending upon the amount of relevant content and the number of links to and from other websites and a few other criteria. The higher you rank on the searches the more hits you can get to your website, and I agree with that concept.
However, the actual formula for SEO is not only mysterious, it's actually kept secret to keep people from abusing it. The formula also changes fairly often because some of the smart folks who sell SEO eventually figure out the formula occasionally and then, for however long it lasts, they actually have a great product.
The problem here is that you can either spend a lot of money trying to catch that magic formula at the right time, or you can spend a lot of time, and for the entrepreneur Time IS Money (T=$) trying to figure it out yourself.
There are other ways that you could spend that time and money to get better results in my opinion.
Here's a very short list of things you can do to help your SEO;
1. Get your domain now - If you know that you are going to have a website or a blog then go ahead and buy your domain and start blogging. Don't wait til you have your products ready. The reason for this is that one of the factors on Google's list is age of the domain. The longer you've been around the higher you rank. Plus, you should be taking this time right now to learn HOW to blog before you are actually ready to sell your product.
2. Get listed in as many directories as possible ASAP - Use Directory Submitter http://abe5.com/41d and get started, but also Google for directories and add your links to the top directories that you can find. There really are no shortcuts for this, just do it.
3. Make sure that your Titles, keywords and Metatags are right - Make sure that any Keywords are actually used repeatedly on your page that has the keyword in the Title. Here's a nice page with details; http://www.interspire.com/content/articles/13/1/Google-SEO-Basics-for-Beginners
SEO is an ongoing part of doing business online. You need to have a basic understanding of how it works and know enough and be current enough to know when you're getting scammed. Be aware of 2 things;
1. The algorithms change, so this is not something you can do once and forget.
2. There really aren't any shortcuts and most of the automated programs and people selling SEO can cause you more problems than they are worth.
Take your time and do your research. If you don't expect overnight results and you're here for the long haul then you'll probably find that SEO really isn't that big of a problem.
© 2008 Robert Morgen. This article may be used anywhere as long as the authors bio and links remain intact and with the article.
About the Author
Robert Morgen is the author of 'Kundalini Awakening for Personal Mastery 2nd Edition' and 'The Spiritual Entrepreneur'.
The Spiritual Entrepreneur is now available at Amazon.com!
His website is http://spiritualentrepreneur.biz
