Geezers Guide to SEO

Even in retirement, I am still attached to this computer.  Some friends wanted me to help them with their websites, so I recently took an online class on SEO. At first, I had no idea what SEO was or that anyone needed it. Well, I thought it couldn't hurt to check it out. A local design company helps a very small class at the community college. It was cheap and figure I would probably learn a few things. At my age anything computer and 'new technology' is always overwhelming. I barely go on Facebook. But it's the only way I get to see my grand kid's recent photos.

Then I took the plunge and took a local community SEO class. To my surprise, they broke the information down and started at the basics. I am excited now to see what I can do to get my 'site ranked.'

This is what I've learned and I will try to break it down the best I can.

The first step before tackling any SEO on your website:

In preparing your website for search engine optimization (SEO), it helps to take a look at the web's top sites at the Alexa 500.

In order of popularity; they are Google, YouTube, Facebook, Baidu, Yahoo, Amazon, and Wikipedia. Do everything you can to have links to your website on these major internet sites. You can benefit greatly from piggybacking off of their success. SEO methods require that you cater your search engine outreach to your local area - doing a local search. Look up the Wikipedia article and make sure that your company website is on the list of sources at the bottom. All this requires is creating a free Wikipedia account and discretely adding the web link on the list of companies. Make sure that your company has an article. Here is a link on how to set up an Wikipedia account.

Ok, so that seemed pretty simple.
Many SEO strategies involve SEO content marketing. This means creating valuable content that is effective using key terms that relate to your business. I was trying to come up with the right keywords that other people like to type in for a major search engine like Google. The same goes if you are doing it for a particular term like 'consulting'. While this is helpful, have a broad strategy in mind. Do not just focus on Google because everyone else is doing so. When everyone is doing something, your competition will be stiffer. Look at the social networking sites. Having a YouTube channel can be a big boost to your brand. Sell stuff through Amazon. Write a clear and impartial article about your company on Wikipedia - like I mentioned before. These are all helpful steps to improving your brand's image. In my case 'consulting' was a little too broad - so I started to use the example 'Austin SEO Consulting'. Being in Round Rock - I would have a better chance of ranking when using the term 'Austin'.

Another very simple step to take is to write a blog using Blogger. Blogger is fantastic - a free site for articles relating to what you do. I started to use this and its pretty easy. Did I mention it's free?

Another option is to post stuff on Reddit. I mean stuff like videos. If you have viral videos on YouTube showing your staff doing weird stuff, this can help draw attention to your company. Often, people fail to distinguish themselves from the competition because they are afraid to try something different. For the example 'Austin SEO consulting' themed your keyword terms around something unusual and attractive, like beer, cows, trucks, bar, cowboy, etc. I know its hard to relate the two - but I know I can be creative. When people type this in, your site will be more likely to pop up. Having embedded links on pages like Wikipedia, Amazon, and Facebook is also really important.

So there are a few random things I learned.  Each on their own don't mean much.  But if you're lookigng to increase the visibility of your consltant or small business, they are a good start.