Following is the summary of Google’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

1. Search engine optimization is often about making small modifications to parts of the website and SEO affects only organic search results, not paid or “sponsored” results.

2. Create unique, accurate page titles.

Good practices for page title tags:

(a) Accurately describe the page’s content
(b) Create unique title tags for each page
(c) Use brief, explanatory titles

3. Make use of the “description” meta tag

Good practices for description meta tags:

(a) Accurately summarize the page’s content
(b) Use unique descriptions for each page

4. Improve the structure of your URLs.

Good practices for URL structure:

(a) Use words in URLs
(b) Create a simple directory structure
(c) Provide one version of a URL to reach a document

5. Make your site easier to navigate.

Good practices for site navigation:

(a) Create a naturally flowing hierarchy
(b) Use mostly text for navigation
(c) Use “breadcrumb” navigation
(d) Put an HTML sitemap page on your site, and use an XML Sitemap file
(e) Consider what happens when a user removes part of your URL
(f) Have a useful 404 page

6. Offer quality content and services.

Good practices for content:

(a) Write easy-to-read text
(b) Stay organized around the topic
(c) Use relevant language
(d) Create fresh, unique content
(e) Offer exclusive content or services
(d) Create content primarily for your users, not search engines

7. Write better anchor text.

Good practices for anchor text:

(a) Choose descriptive text
(b) Write concise text
(c) Format links so they’re easy to spot
(d) Think about anchor text for internal links too

8. Use heading tags appropriately

Good practices for heading tags:

(a) Imagine you’re writing an outline
(b) Use headings sparingly across the page

9. Optimize your use of images

Good practices for images:

(a) Use brief, but descriptive filenames and alt text
(b) Supply alt text when using images as links
(c) Store images in a directory of their own
(d) Use commonly supported filetypes

10. Make effective use of robots.txt

Good practices for robots.txt:

(a) Use more secure methods for sensitive content

11. Be aware of rel=”nofollow” for links

12. Promote your website in the right ways

Good practices for promoting your website:

(a) Blog about new content or services
(b) Don’t forget about offline promotion
(c) Know about social media sites
(d) Add your business to Google’s Local Business Center
(e) Reach out to those in your site’s related community

13. Make use of free webmaster tools

14. Take advantage of web analytics services

Google also offers helpful resources for the webmasters with its help forum, central blog, tools , guidelines etc. Check out the complete Google’s SEO Starter Guide.Recent Posts:

• Social Media Marketing Overview
  April 7, 2009 11:37 pm
• What do newsletters do?
  April 7, 2009 3:11 pm

Social media is a term that covers the various aspects of media that encourages user participation and interaction and it involves the collaboration and sharing of content.

Social media has been around for quite some time now. It has been around ever since the internet begun and has now become more accessible and less technical.

Web development, improvements in computer technology and the wide use of broadband internet has driven consumers online. Social media is growing in significance and now has the potential to change the media consumption.

Why is social media a good option for my company?

Social media exists everywhere that there is a connection to the internet and the percentage of people using the internet is increasing everyday.

There is a huge opportunity for companies to communicate with their customers and for the customers to communicate back. In fact recent studies by Cone Research have shown that 93% of Americans believe that a company should have some sort of presence in social media and 56% of Americans feel that they are better served as customers if they have the option to communicate with the company via social media.

“Today’s companies can no longer sit on the sidelines when it comes to social media”.

Consumer decisions are being increasingly influenced by what people see on blogs, forums, videos and other forms of social media.

The question should not be if you company should be involved in social media but when it can be involved in social media.

What are the positives of having a corporate social media influence?

There are huge advantages in having a social media presence as a company. Social media will:
• Increase the customer awareness of your business
• Increase awareness of your brand
• Improve the relationships with your target audience
• Improve the overall reputation of your business
• Improve your ability to communicate your message with your target audience

Basically, by using social media, you can build a larger audience for a fraction of the cost of traditional media. This means more profit for your company and more time spend on the things that will earn you the most money.

Is it possible to measure the success of social media marketing?

Social media marketing is much easier to measure than traditional marketing. Traditional marketing leaves you hoping that your message gets across; social media marketing on the other hand gives you solid data to measure your success.

Social media will measure a variety of different aspects that form a part of your success. For example it will measure the volume of conversations, the quantity of blog posts or video posts and it will also measure things such as site traffic, conversion rates and much more.

How can my company begin using social media?

Create

You must create branded content such as widgets, content, applications, services and platforms that gives the consumer a benefit to using your product/service and encourages them to engage with your product/service.

Participate

You need to embrace the world of social media. Get involved in social platforms such as blogs, video and photo sharing sites and other forms of media communication. Communicate with your consumers and interlink your content to engage a larger audience.

Connect

Connecting with your consumers is vital. You need to do this a variety of ways. You need to connect in the form of advertising and sponsorship and you need to track feedback and allow your consumers to interact with your brand.Recent Posts:

• Google’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  June 13, 2009 7:30 am
• What do newsletters do?
  April 7, 2009 3:11 pm

Now that you have your mailing list, there are thousands of things you can do with it. You can send out coupons. You could run contests. You could let people know when you have new products coming in and when you decide to expand.Or you could roll all of these things into one and produce a monthly, bi-weekly or weekly newsletter.

What Do Newsletters Do?

Newsletters serve many different purposes. Obviously, they provide incentive for people to sign up for your mailing list-that’s why I’m talking about them here! In addition to that, they offer people the chance to learn about you and your company, your niche, your product line and what all of those things can do for them…and a good newsletter throws in a little bit of fun along the way!

What Do I Include?

The hardest part of producing a newsletter for most marketers is figuring out what they’re going to put in it. The possibilities are endless, the potential consequences all but nonexistent (assuming you’re using a little bit of common sense). Since ideally all of the names on your mailing list will already be members of your target audience, they already want to know what you have to tell them. Now it’s just up to you to give it to them.

There are numerous things you can add to your newsletters that is going to make them appealing to your customers. In the following section I’ve given you a couple of suggestions to get you started. Remember, however, that the primary incentive when it comes to registering for a newsletter is information.

Every time you put together a newsletter be sure to include a feature on something related to your niche. If you sell wooden furniture, feature a product of the month (“How to Make Your Own Glider”) or a discussion on the various types of wood. If you produce women’s clothing highlight the fashions that are being produced over in Paris (with a blurb at the bottom expressing your gratitude that they’re there rather than here!). The point is, your readers want to know everything you’re going to teach them, and they’ll soak up that information like sponges.

Don’t lose track of the need for information in your desire to promote your products and your company. So many companies have lost track of their priorities in the clamber to hype their products, which means that the people on their mailing list find themselves with inboxes full of advertisements and very little by way of substance.

What’s Hot and What’s Not in Online Promotions

What’s hot and what’s not in online promotions changes
weekly, and if you don’t want to find yourself caught in the crush you’re going to have to keep up! In the meantime, however, there are some tried and true marketing methods that have been working since your grandparents were children and will continue working to draw in customers when your children’s children are old and grey. Underneath are some great ideas for promotions that will never grow stale and will do wonders to increase the marketability of your newsletter.Recent Posts:

• Google’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  June 13, 2009 7:30 am
• Social Media Marketing Overview
  April 7, 2009 11:37 pm