Search Engine Optimization

[inova]

I do believe that professionals do better than us

But I also believe that if they can, why can't we?

I know it's difficult and not many people succeed in SEO but there are always chances out there when you really try

[barita_lola]

Friend, I think collaboration is required in the search industry, first an SEO expert must work with their client, building the keyword list, checking with the client’s IT department on SEO accessibility issues, and encouraging the client to write content, or hire a copywriter. But to become really successful an SEO expert must constantly search forums, newsgroups and attend industry meetings to keep up to date on what’s happening in the industry. Otherwise their knowledge and client’s rankings start to fade.

[j.jonson7]

Hi nipa, through my long time experience with “SEO” I completely disagree with you. Because there are many information I collect from it, not only information but also I get solution through discussion. No body can tell that he has knowledge in every side. I personally feel that it’s a way through which people in world can share there culture, knowledge and many other things. If it is so useless, then it could not be run for this long time.

Differing opinions and strategies in this and other threads on Your Brand Personal Board of Advisors forum about SEO and other strategies to drive website traffic is very helpful. All views and ideas are valuable for consideration. Keep it going, each view brings someone ideas!

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
As a marketing strategy for increasing a site's relevance, SEO considers how search algorithms work and what people search for. SEO efforts may involve a site's coding, presentation, and structure, as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine indexing programs from fully spidering a site. Other, more noticeable efforts may include adding unique content to a site, ensuring that content is easily indexed by search engine robots, and making the site more appealing to users. Another class of techniques, known as black hat SEO or spamdexing, use methods such as link farms and keyword stuffing that tend to harm search engine user experience. Search engines look for sites that employ these techniques and may remove them from their indexes.
The initialism "SEO" can also refer to "search engine optimizers", a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who perform SEO services in-house. Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site, SEO tactics may be incorporated into web site development and design. The term "search engine friendly" may be used to describe web site designs, menus, content management systems, URLs, and shopping carts that are easy to optimize.

[ericajones80]

SEO is one of those things that it is easy to be alright at, but it is extremely difficult to be great. You have to do a ton of research and be on top on new internet trends all the time.

I agree that SEO is a job often best left to the pros, but I strongly disagree with the blanket statement that it must be done only be the pros in order to be successful.

As with any business model, it depends on who your target market is. If you are the first in your industry to consider SEO, as a small business owner you will do just fine with the helpful resources that are scattered across the web and can, with a little work, rank quite well organically.

If you have a unique angle to your product in a saturated market and you can build content around specific keywords that your niche uses - then you can do SEO yourself.

As with everything, its all relative to the amount of competition you have and how much time they are spending perfecting their SEO strategy.

If you are in the car, travel or alcohol industry - good luck, hire a great SEO team.

[David Sandusky]

Relevant to this discussion...and funny!