Search Engine Optimization and Where to Start
The first thing I would recommend is to do some research. Sign up for some SEO newsletters, join some news groups and browse web sites like these.SEO can be very in depth and continues for the length of owning your web site. Since this is a new web site here are some things to consider before beginning the creation:
- Choose a domain that matches your products/services
- Host your web site on a reliable, host. One that does not use reseller accounts (possible SPAM issues) and doesn’t hide behind the wall of a ISP (could block search engines).
- Make your site easy to use and the navigation clean.
- When writing the code keep as many of the technical functions outside of the main page. By this I mean include the Java script in a separate file, the same for the CSS etc.
- Keep flash to a minimum and always provide a text menu where the main menu is flash or graphics
- Keep a detailed and up-to-date site map
- Register your site with Google Site Maps
- Install some tracking software so that you can see how your on going changes effect your traffic
- Be sure to manually submit your web sites to the major engines and directories
- Search out some like minded web sites to exchange links with
- Don’t do it all at once. Leave some content back so that you can continually update the site. Search Engines like to see you adding to your content on a consistent basis and so do people.
These steps won’t guarantee you success but they will help.