This is a pretty good video covering some of the ins and outs of search engine optimization.  If you're a small business thinking about investing in SEO, this video provides some great insights and things to keep in mind.  Below, I've included a couple of my own comments, along with a few things I don't exactly agree with and one extremely critical piece that was missing from this discussion (but hey, it was a pretty short video):

Comments:

• "It can be the difference between success and failure for a small business" - I wish more small businesses understood this and how powerful a good search engine ranking can be for their overall marketing and sales strategy (yes, even local brick and mortar businesses).  It's becoming a much bigger deal than ever before as more people have access to high-speed Internet connections and grow more comfortable with searching before buying.
• Having good content is a must. Too many websites out there still have only a handful of pages.  Keep in mind that many of the sites online with the highest traffic are actually blogs.  Why?  Because they offer the reader updated, fresh content that is generally more informative than sales pitch (though you should always have a call to action).  This is why most of the web design projects we complete for clients are based on a popular blogging platform rather than just static webpages that can't be easily updated or added to.  This makes for a website that does better in the search engines and one that is easy for clients to maintain on their own.
• Writing articles sounds tougher than it is, but it should be fairly easy if you know your product and the benefits that would makes someone want to purchase it.  Put on your "sales hat" and appeal to the customer's emotions to explain those benefits while also giving them great information.  Help educate your customer about why your product is the best choice.
• Another way to get links to your site ties in with writing articles.  You can write articles and submit them to online article directories such as EzineArticles.com, ISnare.com, IdeaMarketers.com or Buzzle.com.  Another option (and probably better but harder to find) is to submit articles to industry websites related to your market.  Each article can contain a link back to your site, ideally using keywords you'd like to rank well for.  This is a great way to build credibility and get links to your site at the same time.  You can also repurpose articles into other formats such as audio or video and distribut them that way too.
• If you get in one search engine you'll probably rank well in the others, but for most businesses, your primary focus should be Google.  They get the vast majority of searches compared to the other search engines so most of your customers are probably using Google too.

Points I Disagree On:

• More links is not necessarily always better.  It's best if they're related to your site and are from authority sites.  I say authority sites to refer to other good content sites vs. links from directories or other low-value sources.
• I agree on the importance of title tags, but other meta tags are of different levels of importance.  Description tag is important for conversions since it will often be used as the text description that appears when your site shows up in the search results after someone searches for a particular keyword.  On the other hand, the keywords tag is essentially useless and is even a way competitors can find out which keywords you're targeting, so it's probably best to simply leave that one blank.

The Big Thing That Was Missing?:

So what's the big thing that was missing from this segment?  Well, with all this talk of title tags, links to your site and so on, we've already seen that it's important to include keywords that you'd like your site to rank well for.  But how do you know for sure what people are using to search for your products or services online?  Are they searching for "Maryland real estate", "Maryland real estate agent", or "Maryland REALTOR" more often (and which of those is most likely to bring you website visitors that convert into actual sales)?  Depending on the market, the difference could be hundreds or thousands or searches per month and you want to be sure you're going after the right keywords.

The only way you can do this is through keyword research.  No matter how well you know your market, you should always use keyword research to verify your guesses for how people are searching online and to find additional keywords that people include in their searches.  Doing so can not only help you identify the best keywords overall, but can also help you find less frequently searched terms that, when added together, account for more total searches than the generic keywords everyone is competing for.  This is called the "long tail" of search and often times, is how the SEO game is fought and won.

That's why we start all of our SEO campaigns by finding out about our clients' business and who their target market is.  Then we conduct in-depth keyword research to help the client discover the most important terms that need to be part of their SEO effort.

To find out more about how we can put together an effective search engine optimization or Internet marketing campaign to help promote your business online, click here to contact us for a free consultation.