Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Getting Good Google Ranking is as Easy as 1, 2, 3


photo credit: Suat Eman
Getting to page one of Google used to be hard.  Back in the early days, you would have to hire an SEO expert to do their tricks on your site, and then you would be lucky to have one listing on page one.  Now with the advent of Social Media, getting to page one of Google has become easy as 1, 2 , 3.  Here are the 3 keys to getting great ranking.

Step 1:  Choose your Magical Keywords

Start by making a list of words that resonate with you, that mean something, that sing to your soul.  These are your "Tick Words" - They reflect what makes you tick.  Then make a list of words that represent your products and services, and the outcomes of your offerings.  These are your "Offering Words".  Visit the Google Keyword Tool (Search "Keyword Tool" at Google.com) and enter your words to see how often these words are being searched and note the most popular ones.  Then  create your keyword phrases with a combination of Tick and Offering Words, using the ones most commonly searched. These are your "Magical Keywords" that will attract your perfect customers.  Create "long tail" phrases of 5 to 7 words for which we will optimize your site and social networks.

Step 2:  Optimize Your Website

Optimizing your site is not as mysterious as it may seem at first blush.  All you have to do is make sure your Choose your favorite 5 - 7 Keyword Phrase and populate your site with this phrase. If you don't have a site, create a blogsite on Wordpress.com to get started. Include your phrase in the following places on your site.  Always remember: Google ranks pages, not websites. Each individual page needs to rank and stand on its own, so make sure each page is optimized for your keyword phrase/s.

URL or 'web address' ie http://www.yourkeywordphrase.com/
Page Name ie yourkeywordphrase.html
Page Title Tag
Headline and Subheads (H1, H2, etc in your CSS Style Sheet)
Links
Image Alt Tags
META Tags in the page coding
Labels and/or Tags on your blog posts

Step 3: Create Powerful Back Links

 The secret ingredient to great Google ranking made easy are Social networks: The most powerful way to get to page one of Google is to create pages on high-ranking social networks and bookmarking sites that link back to your site using your keyword phrase.  Make sure to sprinkle your keywords and keyword variations throughout the title, description, web address, headlines, and content of your pages.  The best sites I use for this are:

Squidoo.com
HubPages.com
Digg.com
Delicious.com
Facebook.com (fan page)
Wordpress.com (new one page blog per key word phrase)
Blogspot.com (new one page blog per key word phrase)

Once you have gotten several properties to page one for your keyword phrase, then create new keyword phrases and new properties to link back to your site.   Finally, if this seems either too complicated or too time-consuming to do yourself, hiring someone to do it for you is a good idea.  Usually, one good new customer attracted online can pay for having these services done for you, so get optimizing!

Graphic Girlz provides all the services listed above.  For a complimentary Search Engine Optimization Assessment, please contact Julia Stege at (707) 823-3316 to schedule.

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