By Scott Jason (c) 2008
SEO has been around for almost as long as search engines have and for good reason. Everyone wants free advertising. A lot has changed over the past thirteen years and with SEO companies charging in excess of $1,000 per month for seo service and maintenance you really can have for much less. SEO can't be referred to as "free advertising" anymore.
Why is SEO expensive? SEO done properly is worth every penny invested. Back in the day, you could get top 10 rankings for just about any search term you wanted just by using tricks such as keyword stuffing, invisible text and cloaking. Try any of that today and search engines are likely to ban inclusion of your site from the search results index.
Optimising your site is harder than ever due to increasing market competition. In 1998 there were a hundred million pages or two indexed on Google. Now there are billions and billions. I can't remember the last time I ran a search that found less than 300,000 results. Churning out optimised pages by loading your content and META tags with keywords was easy to pull off once upon a time, not anymore. Today online you really need to know your internet stuff and use quality information, tools and services to guide you. Even with advanced SEO software available today, it's still not possible to "easy". The fact is finding the right tools and information and using it is the difference between inclusion in first page search results or no where to be seen. The pressure is on from day dot. That's difficult because not only can using the incorrect seo methodolgy be a waste of money and time, it can also damage your sites reputation. Remember that you are not competing against the search engines or Websites. You're competing against the search engine rankings of individual Web pages. Too many people focus on beating search engines or whole sites, but that's not the competition. Search engines rank pages; not sites.
Three ways to optimise your own website pages on a low budget. The required investments of time and money will vary according to the individual. These methods are safe and effective ways to fast track your search engine optimisation efforts.
1.) Use an SEO How To Book (Average Cost $20 to $40) If you have some time before you need to see results, this is the way to go. Even if you use another method, I still recommend getting hold of a good SEO book reading and learning from it then keeping it for reference. Be sure to check the copyright. Never buy plaguarised or out dated material. Here are two books I've read on seo in 2008. Many others are also available, just go to http://www.Amazon.com and search for "search engine optimisation" within book categories.
Search Engine Optimization: Your visual blueprint for effective Internet marketing (Visual Blueprint) by Kristopher B. Jones ($30 new or buy used on Amazon)
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) by Peter Kent ($30 new or buy used on Amazon)
If you can get to a Barnes and Noble bookstore, they typically stock both titles.
2.) Use quality website promotion software and SEO tools (Average Cost $150 to $600) If you are just starting out you may want to invest a couple hundred dollars in good Website analysis and if you can afford to get a linking tool like Arelis, if you can.
A Website analysis tool will check your pages from the inside out, compare exactly what you have to your top competitors and give you detailed instructions on how to beat the competition. Avoid WebPosition Gold as it incorporates spam and unethical practice.
The seo tool that has worked really well consistantly for my page optimisation, keyword analysis as well as link management can be investigated by going to http://www.ibp.com.au
The "Internet Business Promoter" as it's referred has been around a long while and is used by some magor companies such as eBay who like others rely on top rankings for their very existence. At around the $250 mark it's priced low and comes with 100% money back guarantee to boot. Follow the instruction and optimise your site according to the IBP method and get "Top 10 ranking or your money back" within 90 days of seo check-list completion, incentive to get you results.
3.) Attend an SEO Seminar (Average Cost $400 to $1,500) The cost is all over the place on this one; quality varies just as much. Your best bet is to contact SEO specialists in your area and see if they hold seminars or if you could have a seo training consultation. I recommend staying local because reputation is important and it's beneficial to build relationships with local seo experts. Then when you have questions or need updating about the search engine optimisation industry go see your friendly local seo expert.
Run a search on http://www.Google.com to find web promotion and seo talent in your local area. Search for "SEO training" + "your locality" or nearest capital city. One of these is likely to do the trick. Most SEO experts use all three regularly. All the best.
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