Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will always be the best method to drive long-term organic, targeted and free traffic to your web-sites. However, you have to admit that achieving top-10 ranking is not an easy thing to do, especially among millions of other websites competing for the same keyword.
One thing that you need to commit on the very first day of your SEO campaign, you need to maintain focus. I guess you all know by now that backlinks from quality sites are the best method to improve your SEO score in front of the search engines, however, some webmasters often deviated from their focus, which is to increase the backlink popularity of their websites, because they stumble on some magic formula or machine that can improve their sites popularity in no time.
Calm down! There is no such thing as a software that can improve your website rank overnight. It takes patience and consistent effort from yourself to reach that ranking by continuously build up backlinks for your site.
I want to give your here your first four weeks SEO checklist to any websites you build for SEO purposes. Commit yourself to do this in the first month of your campaign, and enjoy the results. Do not be distracted by any “magic formula”, do this checklist for your newly launched website and watch your organic traffic grow:
Week-1: On page optimization, search engine submission, and get a Digital Point Forum account
In the first week, commit yourself to do an optimal on-page optimization. Make sure you have put the page title, meta keyword and description in a key-word rich way that is SE-friendly. By that I mean not to mention the same keyword over and over again. You should use various but related keywords.
If you have a blog, make sure that each post is inter-linked with each other. For WordPress blogs, you can use the related post plugins for your convenience. You must also submit your site to at least two major search engines: Yahoo and Google.
It also helps that if you have a blog, to auto-schedule your posting for at least for the next three months ahead, so that you can focus fully on the off page optimization aspects in the following weeks.
In this first week you must also get a Digital Point Forum (DP) free account if you haven’t got one. The forum is a community of webmasters, and there is a lot of benefit that you can get by hanging around with them. Start posting, and place yourself a target to reach 25 posts by the end of the month, because members with 25 posts can really start to get the benefits from the forum. However, do not spam, or you will be banned. Try to help people and contribute in your first week with DP.
Week-2: Start submitting to directories
There are thousands of directories out there that you can submit your website into. The most famous one is DMOZ, which is very strict, so I would not recommend submitting newly built sites to this directory. So, in week two, while maintaining and updating your website or blog, you must start submitting the URL to directories in the proper categories.
You might want to limit your submission to directories that have at least PR-3 rankings. To find out whether a directory has a PR-3 ranking, you can install a Google toolbar for your browser and activate the PR button. Commit yourself to submit to at least 10 directories per day in the second week.
Keep posting at DB if you haven’t reached the minimum 25 posts limit. If you have, start putting your signature pointing to your site with your target keyword as the anchor text.
Week-3: Start submitting articles to article directories
Three article directories that you should submit are eZineArticles.com, IdeaMarketers.com and GoArticles.com. Those are the top three article directories that have been around for years. Commit to yourself to write at least 10 unique articles about your sites to each of the directory every single day.
Tough job huh? You can always outsource for article writers at eLance.com to become your ghost writers, or you can ask family, relatives and friends to help you with an incentive. Note that in week three, you must also maintain your blog or sites and to maintain the directory submission job along with continuously posting at DP. The mountain is getting steep but you are getting there, hang on, don’t take a rest just yet.
Week-4: Start building network with other webmasters by link-exchange
By now, if you have done the job correctly, this is the calculation you will have on backlinks in week-4:
- 25 minimum posts at DP with signatures = 25
- 10 backlinks from directories per day for two weeks straight: 10 X 7 X 2 = 140
- 10 unique articles for three article directories for a week: 10 X 3 X 7 = 210
Total backlinks = 210 + 140 + 25 = 375 backlinks!
Not bad for a start huh? Now, remember why I told you to reach at least 25 posts at DP? Because other than being able to put your signature link, you can also request for a link exchange at the link exchange forum. Visit the forum and look for people who is also looking for a link-back. Make sure you link exchange with relevant sites, so that the relevancy score is good in front of the search engine eyes.
Congratulations, you have reached the finish line for your first month optimization. In the second month, you can still do the same process over and over again or add some twist with it through social media marketing. This discussion needs its own section that will be discussed later on.
Another note, do not be disappointed if your website has yet to rank in the first month. It takes process, and it will take at least three months of this consistent effort to achieve a good SE rank. On a lighter note, you will at least have 100 organic visitors in this first month.
Guest author Hans David is a webmaster and his websites aims to teach people about Internet Marketing in the right way. You can also submit guest posts and share your SEO tips for new bloggers.