Hi  SEO strategies are really important  and the key element of it – ‘Relevancy’ has sunk in and burned into your brain. Its such an obvious one, but unfortunately often overlooked. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve overlooked the real obvious points in internet marketing then I’d have quite a little stash of money – so what I’m trying to say don’t beat yourself up over it.

Here’s what I do – every time I do something, especially when I’m writing blogposts, articles etc, I print a copy off, sit back a read it and check ask myself this question “Is it relevant?” – sounds daft I know but it works and then I also get my wife Sam to do the same thing – two brains better than one kind of principal.Ok so lets move to getting backlinks

Getting Backlinks

One of my favourite ways of getting backlinks is using article directories  also article marketing is a great way to get higher rankings in the search engines as well. Basically you write articles (or hire a writer to do them for you,) and then post them to article directory sites.  These don’t necessarily need to be too  long or involved articles; they can be short and simple providing you are delivering good, unique and useful content to the potential reader. So. the idea is to offer something of value to the reader which will get them clicking through to your link for more.  These help to get visitors to your site, but they also raise your ranking in the search engines by providing your site with backlinks.  The more backlinks you get, the higher you’ll rank.

But don’t overlook the real opportunity of article marketing & that is all the website owners continually visiting directory sites hungry for new content for their own sites – this is where you really gain, by them using your article with your resource box (which links to your site) you get backlinks, and over time articles go viral – its a no brainer.

Link Swaps – Should I do them?

You can also get backlinks through link swaps.  This means that you find sites that are similar to yours and offer to link to them if they’ll link to you.  This works very well for blogs.  It takes a lot of time, but it will get you lots of traffic and backlinks.  It can also be done with automated software that will send out link requests instantaneously.

But beware some automated software will result in backlinks that are not niche specific, get too many of them and Google will penalise you – so think through your strategy carefully first. For Sam & I we prefer to stick clear of both swaps (to get full value you need to monitor them) & automated software preferring article marketing, blog and forum posting.

Using Social Media To Attract Customers

One of the biggest things now in Internet marketing is social media.  Social media sites achieve massive traffic because quite literally the ongoing 24/7 interaction between people all over the world

Now I tell you I find the whole social media thing really interesting, take my daughter for example, she’s 25 now and works for an app company but even when she was at Uni  here in the UK  studying and revising her mobile is going berserk all the time & apart from some of it being texts from her friends the majority are Facebook and Twitter updates- just incredible the volume she gets.

I don’t know how the revision gets done really, but she seems to cope. Sometimes she’ll be watching an episode of Glee (she’s an absolutely major fan!!) on her laptop all at the same time – kids what would you do with them!!!

Then my wife she forgets sometimes to turn her mobile to silent at night or brings it upstairs with her, then at 3am suddenly her phone’s going off – Facebook update, someone’s posted to her wall, friends in Australia hence the time delay.

So although that aspect t really does my head in you can just tell what a powerful addition to your internet marketing activity social media has become

Social Media – The basics

The most popular as I’m sure you know are Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.  These are great places to get backlinks to your site.  While there are lots of different strategies, the simplest method to start with is to grow your   friends list and encourage them to use your profile.  Offer them something they can use or get by visiting your site, like a fun game or activity, or a place to talk about something that matters to them.

A word of caution here on social media sites, it’s important not to appear spammy or like you’re only there to promote your site.  What you should do is let your fans simply use your profile, and the backlinks will come naturally.  Use the site to build up a loyal fan base and the search engines will notice.

Finally …..

Most businesses these days are very tuned into the necessity of using Internet marketing for the sound, profitable health of the business (and in some cases the literal survival of it).  The Web has truly changed the way marketing works, but the good news is that it has made it much easier in some ways and cheaper being able to target your prospective customers.  Anybody can use Internet marketing to boost their business! I really hope this introduction to some SEO strategies has been useful, but as with everything learning is necessary, doing it is what makes it work – so do get stuck in, make it happen.

Tony