above the fold (seo)

A big part of making your site successful in the search engines is approaching it in the right way. The more time you can spend in the planning phases of a website the better, but there’s still plenty of opportunity to adjust and expand your website if need be.

In this article I’m going to break down the four key aspects to modern SEO, then give some quick tips for how to approach each.

There are 4 key aspects to modern SEO

1. Create a site that’s easy for search engines to navigate and understand.
2. Use keywords on the page.
3. Write quality content that people will want to link to.
4. Ask for links to that content.

Let’s break these down and expand upon them.

Create a search engine friendly site

The programs that search engines use to read and interpret your site, called bots, have come a long way in the past few years. But at the end of the day they’re still just software programs and have limitations. Here’s how to make your site easy for them to understand.

• Use text instead of pictures of text.
• Flash and cool Javascript tricks should be somewhere between a side dish and a garnish.
• Don’t bury your content. You should be able to get to nearly all your content either from the homepage, or from a page linked from the homepage.

Use keywords on the page

Use your keywords in your site copy. This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how often this is missed in practice. The biggest culprit is people who focus their website on their mission statement or their philosophical approach to their business.

If all that your photography business website talks about is your focus on capturing memorable experiences, the search engines are going to think your website is about memorable experiences, not photography. Make sure you spend time talking about your services too.

Lastly, remember that the search engines rank web pages, not websites. You don’t need to use your main keyword on every page – you only need one or two pages focused on it. Designate a 1-2 keyword theme for each of your pages. Avoid creating multiple pages that emphasize the same keyword. Continuing the photography example, you could have a page about portrait photography, and another about wedding photography.

Write quality content that people will want to link to

The search engines interpret links as votes for a website. With all other things equal, the site with more and better quality links will count. By quality, we mean links from legitimate websites - avoid schemes to rig the Internet election.

One of the best ways to get links to your site is to create pages worth sharing. One thing I like to do is think about what I’ve shared with people recently, or what people have shared with me. Here are some examples:

• Breaking news related to your business
• A unique take on your business or industry
• An introduction to your services or beginner buyer’s guide
• A helpful tool
• Even a funny video

A note on that last suggestion - if you keep it closely linked to your business, it will be easy to use appropriate keywords on the page.

Ask for links to your site and your content

It’s never enough to just create something great, you have to share and promote it too. Getting links to your website requires some extra effort, but it pays off. Here are some opportunities to get links to your site:

• Ask your business partners or businesses you deal with on a related basis to link to you.
• Ask businesses in your building or neighborhood to link to you.
• Work out a deal where you and a business that compliments yours recommend one another.

You can also reach out other websites in your industry. If you’ve created a great resource or a helpful tool, suggest people share it with their readers. If you come across people asking questions or advice in a forum, point them to your beginner’s guide. If you create something truly helpful, then you can promote yourself by helping others.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• "Chuck Norris Gives Advice on Google Encryption" - Camella Mendez
  posted by: Camella Mendez - 12.08.2011
• "How Link Building Determines a Website's Ranking" - Rebecca Derdoski
  posted by: Rebecca Derdoski - 04.10.2012
• "5 Simple Ways for Small Businesses to Get Links" - Camella Mendez
  posted by: Camella Mendez - 03.09.2012