The Bottom Linet

I’ve gotten a lot of emails saying “just tell me what I need to do to get top rankings” or “c’mon, what’s the bottom line, what do I need to do to get top rankings”. So I’m going to give it to your straight right now. Like it or not, here is what you need to do:

1. Make sure you understand the fundamentals of SEO. If you need some quality info you can trust that is cheap – check out my Breaking The SEO Code book (details here: http://www.ecombuffet.com/ebook.htm )

2. Do your keyword research. It’s the foundation of your campaign. Spend the proper amount of time. Come up with a good list of keywords that covers short term (longer, less competitive phrases that will convert really well and rank quicker) and long term (more competitive and probably more generic phrases that will drive a lot of traffic but may not convert as well and will take longer to get ranked for). Consider commercial intent (you want to get people that are in various stages of the buying process – the ones further along in the process will convert better)

3. Review your code to make sure it’s clean, search engine friendly and spiderable. Clean any issues you find.

4. Map the keywords you want to focus on to your site pages.

5. Optimize each page using the designated keywords (use the keywords well in your Meta tags, be sure you use the keywords well but do not overuse them in the content, bold a few instances of your phrases, look at ALT tags and image names, look at the page name, use Header tags etc)

6. Get your XML sitemap and robots.txt in shape. Get set up on Webmaster Tools.

7. Get all your maps/local/Places pages set up if relevant.

8. Build quality links into your site (not just your homepage but all pages)

9. Get a Facebook Fan page and start building your Fans.

10. Get going on Twitter and build an active profile.

11. Get listed on LinkedIn and start connecting there.

12. Blog regularly or add new content to your site regularly.

13. Review stats and Webmaster Tools often to get new data, find and fix problems.

14. Repeat. There are no shortcuts. There are no secrets. There are no proprietary tools that you can’t live without (there are tools that make things easier but be careful most tools out there aren’t good and are a waste of money). There are no special relationships with Google. There is just focused work, attention to detail and then real results!!