Happy New Year! Did you already break some resolutions you set for yourself? Not to worry. Below are some new resolutions, for your SEO New Year. They are easy to follow and while they may not help you lose weight or get a healthier heart, they just might help you trim your
budget and fatten your wallet.
Set aside time to review your index page and each of your internal pages. If you have a large site with thousands of pages, first go over the most important pages that need more traffic and work your way down the list.
Your SEO audit can be as simple as making sure your <title> tags matches the content on your pages and implementing the correct alt text on your images. More advanced audits can include completely restructuring a page to target a new set of keyword phrases or editing your entire site to feature more <h2>, and <h3> tags.
Have your products or services changed? If so, what new keywords should you target or omit? Remember, SEO is an ongoing process. Make sure the keywords you initially targeted are still relevant and resolve to perform ongoing research throughout the New Year by following trends and speaking directly with your website visitors. Those pursuing SEO success may also want to resolve to audit their competitors and the search results pages where those competing sites appear.
Set aside at least an hour a week or more to write new content. One idea might be to fill out existing product reviews with new keywords you have identified. An easy way to create content is to start writing a weblog. Topic ideas might include posts about your products or services, feedback you have received from visitors or just something that interests you and is related to your website. Update your weblog frequently (at least once a week) and make sure that it's easy for your audience to access.
Publicizing the availability of RSS feeds allows for greater exposure and gives your most active customers quick access to content that could compel them to act on your unique offerings.
Try to get a few new links from respectable sources every week. There are many ways to do this including making new friends within social networks, deploying widgets, guest blogging for others in your industry and generating media attention. Links to your index (home) page are good but also get links to your sub (secondary) pages - specific product pages for ecommerce stores or your best blog posts. Ideally, try to vary the anchor text slightly on all incoming links, but too much variance will diminish the overall value.
Does your website have a LinkedIn, MySpace or Facebook profile? Are there any industry-specific social networks that you should consider?
Social networks continue to gain momentum and attract an even larger audience. This is an easy way to get more exposure for your website and in some ways it's equivalent to having multiple websites, providing greater exposure and links. In addition, there is tremendous potential for receiving new leads just within your social networks. Social media sites such as Newsvine, Digg, Mixx, Reddit and others are exceptional places to build links, generate awareness and keep that traffic rolling in throughout the year.
The start of the New Year is an excellent time to evaluate your current SEO strategy. You can be sure that search will change in 2008, so it is important to not only make some new resolutions but to follow through and keep your SEO senses sharp - by reading SEO Corner, networking and following changes in both the search industry and your own.
Happy SEOing, and good luck in 2008.