Optimizing your web site to promote and spread your content is extremely important. The only way people will find you and your content is if they can find it through search engines. Search engines make marketers lives so much easier than it used to be. Instead of you trying to find them, they find you. You pull them in to your web site by aligning your content with things that they are searching for. Usually the most effective keyword phrases are three or more words, also known as long-tail keywords. These are less competitive then keywords with one or two words, and offer a more precise way to target your audience.

The most important thing to do is listen and do your research to determine what your audience is discussing and trying to answer or need. You should start by doing Google searches and then digging into the content you find and the social conversations taking place. Once you have listened and researched your audience, you will be able to create keywords that will direct them to your site. The following are ten things you can do, along with having good keywords, to drive the right traffic to your web site:

1. Create your page URL around the primary keyword phrase you're targeting
2. Make sure your web site page title has one or two keywords separated by a - or |. Insert the keyword in your page URL first, no more than 70 characters
3. Use the two to four keywords your targeting in your meta description, no more than 160 characters
4. Create one or two H1 heading tags with your keyword phrases included in them
5. Write at least 300 characters of content using your keywords in the beginning and throughout the content
6. Create a call-to-action on the page using your target keyword because that is what they were searching for to begin with
7. Create internal links in the page going to related content on your site using your keywords
8. Use alt attributes in pictures with your keywords, keeping them under 60 characters. (this is how Google understands images)
9. Create links on others pages using your keywords linking to the page your targeting
10. Make sure the web site footer has links with related content and keywords
11. (use your keywords in the page's meta-keywords, Google mostly ignores this)

Do these ten SEO techniques and you’ll increase the traffic to your web site but, also be targeting and attracting the right people.  Now the most difficult and important part of this is always creating educational and functional content. (wish I had the ability to apply some of these techniques to this blog, not until I move to wordpress.org)

Mark K.