Don't Spend a Fortune on SEO. Be Your Own SEO Guru! Scott Jason
Don't Spend a Fortune on SEO. Be Your Own SEO Guru! Scott Jason
SEO has been around for almost as long as search engines
have. And for good reason. Everyone wants free advertising.
But a lot has changed over the past thirteen years and with
SEO gurus charging upwards of $1,000 per month, to small
startups, just for maintenance you really can't call it
"free advertising" anymore.
Why is SEO so expensive? Because it's worth it. Back in the
day, you could get top ranking for just about any search
term you wanted just by using tricks like keyword stuffing,
invisible text and cloaking. Try any of that today and
Google will kick you to the curb.
Another thing that makes optimizing your site tougher than
ever is competition. In 1998 when I got into SEO, there
were a couple hundred million pages indexed on Google. Now
there are billions upon billions! In fact, I can't remember
the last time I ran a search for anything that had less
than 300,000 results found. Beating out a few thousand
pages by loading your page and META tags with keywords was
easy a decade ago. Today you really need to know your
stuff, or at least use a tool or service that can guide you.
Even with the killer SEO software products available today,
it's still not easy. The fact that finding the right tool
will make the difference between dominating Google, Yahoo
and MSN and just so so results puts pressure on you early
in the game. And that's difficult because not only can
using the wrong product be a waste of money and time, it
can also damage your site in a way that takes years to
undue.
So, no matter how you optimize your work just remember
this...you are not competing against the search engines or
Websites. You're competing against the search engine
ranking of individual Web pages. Too many people focus on
beating search engines or whole sites, but that's not your
competition. Search engines rank pages; not sites.
Here are three ways to optimize your own sites on a budget.
All three are excellent methods but will vary greatly in
time investment, cost and return on investment. For most
entrepreneurs however, these are the best ways to put your
optimization efforts on the fast track.
1.) Use an SEO How To Book (Average Cost $20 to $40)
If you have some time before you need to see results, this
is a great and inexpensive way to go. Even if you use
another method, I still recommend getting hold of a good
SEO book for reference. Just be sure to check the
copyright! I never buy anything that is more than a year
old. Here are two of the best I've read in 2008 but there
are many to choose from, just go to Amazon.com
and search for "search engine optimization" in the Books category.
Search Engine Optimization: Your Visual Blueprint for
Effective Internet Marketing (Visual Blueprint) by
Kristopher B. Jones ($30 new or buy used on Amazon)
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies (For Dummies
Computer/Tech)) by Peter Kent ($30 new or buy used on
Amazon)
If you have a Barnes and Noble bookstore around, they
typically stock both titles.
2.) Use an SEO Software Package (Average Cost $150 to $600)
If you are just starting out you might want to invest a
couple hundred dollars in a good Website analysis SEO tool
and if you can swing it, get a linking tool too.
A Website analysis tool will check your pages from the
inside out, compare exactly what you have to your top
competitors and give you detailed instructions on how to
beat the competition.
In 1998 I started using WebPosition Gold. It was great at
doing ranking reports but their suggestions on how to
optimize my pages never yielded very good results. And, of
course, now that Google has banned them, I avoid using it.
One tool that has worked really well for me for both
Website optimization suggestions and link building can be
found at iBusinessPR0M0TER.com. They've been
around a long time and are used by the big companies like
eBay who rely on top ranking for their very existence.
At about $250 it's on the low end of the cost scale and
offers a "Top 10 ranking or your money back" guarantee, so
they have some incentive to get you results.
3.) Attend an SEO Seminar (Average Cost $400 to $1,500)
The cost is all over the place on this one; quality too.
Your best bet here is to contact SEO specialists in your
area and see if they hold seminars or if you could do a
training consult.
I recommend staying local because their reputation will be
important to them and it's nice to build a relationship
with someone close by for when you have questions or
something changes in the optimization world (which is
pretty often.)
The universal search on Google.com for finding
local talent in your area is to run a search on "SEO
training" followed by your city name or the largest local
city.
One of these three options is likely to do the trick. Most
SEO experts use all three as much as possible. Best of luck! |
