SEO 101 Heatherstone http://heatherstone.com Software, database, management, and search engine marketing consulting to businesses and professionals who prefer innovation to infrastructure. Rockville Innovation Center 155 Gibbs Street, Suite 530 Rockville, Maryland 20850 888.716.1521 Like us at Heatherstone on Facebook http://on.fb.me/HeatherstoneWeb Follow us @HeatherstoneWeb on Twitter: http://twitter.com/HeatherstoneWeb

1. Getting started in getting found Aaron Overton CEO, Heatherstone Search Engine Optimization 101

2. Revenue comes from visitors that meet your goals. 1000 visitors x 1% conversion x $500 per conversion = $5000 Generating Revenue

3. A visitor “converts” when he does the thing you want him to do. What do you want your visitors to do? Examples Buy something Read an article Sign up for a newsletter Contact you for an appointment Conversion Goals

4. When a visitor meets a goal, it has a value. Knowing the value is key to measuring your results. What is it worth to convert a visitor? Examples Becomes advertiser for a year: $4000 Donates to my charitable organization: $250 Calls for appointment: $180 Conversion Valuation

5. Use the worksheet to define goals Identify your conversion goals. Determine the value. Describe the audience. Extra Credit Write task list to make conversion better (or even possible!) Your Turn

6. Relevancy is the key to being found via search. There are other ways to make your site found even easier. How will visitors find your site via search? Examples Be relevant Add new content regularly Connect to and from related sites Use a search engine friendly content management tool Search Engine Optimization

7. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Eww. How do you optimize a site for search engines? Examples Know your keywords and focus on the best Include 200-800 words of relevant content Use your metatags: title, description Note: keywords metatag is no longer of value! Examine your site in SEO browser and adjust Acquire incoming links from other relevant sites Components of SEO

8. A lot of what we like as visitors, search engines miss. What does my site look like to a search engine? Your site is just text Images are read via alt tags Heading tags matter Using CSS for formatting helps declutter Flash and some Javascript are problematic How Browsers See Pages http://www.seo-browser.com/

9. Nothing is more important than having the right keywords. What words lead traffic to you? Keyword Evaluation Relevance Popularity Competition Keywords

10. Google AdWords Example https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

11. Brainstorm keywords Work with a partner and write down as many as you can. Rate them for relevance on a scale of 1 to 4. Be specific! Extra Credit Add two hours to your calendar to evaluate your list. Your Turn

12. Deliver exactly what your visitor is expecting. What will you say, what will you offer? Keyword Placement Title: first 60-80 characters Body: at least three; main heading, intro, conclusion Consider: breadcrumb links, secondary headings, alt text for images Metatags: description; keywords is generally ignored! Call to Action Include both primary and secondary Offer something of value in exchange Landing Pages

13. Stress the right keywords without going overboard. How many times should keywords be repeated? Guidelines Use at least three placements Don’t forget to hit 200-800 words (preferably 500) Ideal is 3% to 5% Over 10% can be problematic Keyword Density http://www.googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php

14. Design a Landing Page Write a title Write a description Write headings Outline your content Define your calls to action Extra Credit Write the rest of the content and put it on your site Your Turn

15. Content is king. How do you keep your site up to date? Key Features Separates content from design Requires no extra software Descriptive URLs Notifies search engines of changes Automatic RSS feeds Consider: Dreamweaver, Contribute, WordPress, Joomla, Drupal Content Management

16. It seems hard. I need help. What if you are already too busy, but need this done? Our Call to Action