Online marketing, SEO and launching a new website

A friend of mine, Ernest Barbaric, (Congratulations, Ernest!) has just re-launched a website and asked me about tools he should use and steps he should take to tweak up the new site. We had a conversation with a few messages back and forth. This series of posts is a result of that conversation.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when approaching SEO for a new / re-designed website. These are general steps that I’ve tried, tested, improved. Please note that this is a general process, and I will go into specifics of each step in future posts.

Think about your product, step 1

The key in search engine optimization is simple: think about it. Think about your product and how people could refer to it. Brainstorm a few combinations. Ask friends, colleagues, clients, partners, vendors. As a result you’ll come up with a list of 5-10 key phrases. SEO Tools: paper & pencil, or white board and a marker. Some of you may want to start a spreadsheet. It may be useful down the road.

Keyword research, step 2

Once you have a list of those approximate terms it’s time to look at what people are actually searching for. Use tools that are usually provided by major search engines themselves for free. First, test the terms that you’ve brainstormed to see if people are searching for those. Look at other keyword phrases recommended by the tools. The goals here are to 1) select the most relevant terms, 2) select the term with existing search volume, 3) stay away from super competitive keywords. Then shorten you list of terms to 3-5 most relevant to your site. These terms and their variations (for long tail terms) will be used further. Here’s a great review of 20 free keyword research tools.

SEO Implementation, step 3

There’s a few things to keep in mind: have one terms for the entire site, and 3-4 other terms for other pages on your site. Focus on optimizing one terms per page. For example, if you sell natural cosmetics in Calgary, then this should be your title for either the homepage or one of your other pages. Some of the tools your can use to analyze on-page components of your website: Website SEO Analyzer, W3Optimizer, Website Grader.

Search engine submission, step 4

Yes, search engine spiders crawl the web and will eventually get to your site. I like to inform search engines about major changes on my sites as changes happen. I use webmaster tools that each of major search engines have (Google, Yahoo, Bing). Have an XML sitemap ready just in case (not super crucial but desirable). Here are webmaster pages for major search engines: Google Webmaster Central, Yahoo! Site Explorer, Bing Webmaster Center.

Baseline performance snapshot, step 5

This is one of the most important step of all. This snapshot is a starting point from which you will track your progress. There are a few free tools that will allow you to take performance snapshots and measure it over time including: WebCEO, Raven Tools, etc.

Link building, step 6

Can’t stress this enough. Links are super important. But don’t fall into a trap of doing a one-time blast and forgetting about it. The process should be continuous. The links should be one way from resources that are relevant to your industry. The idea is that other people consider your site important and link to you. You can check the sites that link back to you using the follow two tools: Open Site Explorer by SEOmoz and Yahoo! Site Explorer.

SEO maintenance, step 7

SEO is not a one-time engagement. Search engines change their algorithms, people change their search habits, the world changes. So, make a habit of checking on results regularly (once or twice a month). Either leave as is and continue link building. Or tweak your titles to add / remove / change target keywords.

This outlines the process in general. Stay tuned for a a detailed article on each of the steps.

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