And we’re back to SEO again… sorry about this. But it just so happens that I’ve been browsing some of the guest posts I had the privilege to publish in the recent months and I’ve decided to share three of them with you. As you’d have guessed it, they are about SEO. To be more particular, it’s about how easy it is to screw up your site.
I’m sure you can see why this is highly relevant to running an online business. Quite frankly, if you mess up your reputation with Google, then you have very limited possibilities when it comes to promotion on the web. I mean, there’s still paid advertising, social media and direct visits from guest posts, but for most businesses, the loss of Google rankings still equals a huge knockout blow.
To be honest, I have to admit that I was kind of getting the whole SEO game wrong. I mean, I knew the easy part, which is that rankings = traffic. But as it turns out, this is a big BIG simplification.
Mainly, rankings are not the important part in SEO. And as counterintuitive as this sounds, it is true. To find out what I’m on about I’m inviting you to the first post on the list:
I believe that the above is a crucial thing to understand if we want to protect ourselves from making some silly mistakes and ultimately, killing our reputation with Google.
Just think about it, if you don’t know what exactly you’re aiming at with SEO, then Google will likely get a grasp of your uncertainty very quickly and then penalize you for it. Well, that’s the short version of the story.
Next, we have a range of issues that can present themselves when you already have a plan, but you’re starting to overkill on the execution, so to speak.
As it turns out, it’s very easy to over-optimize a site. I, for example, have done it repeatedly in the past year or so. All it takes is just this one new SEO automation plugin, this one new nofollow link here, this one new site-wide link there and before you know it, you’re screwed. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.
Here are two posts of mine that explain some of the common problems in detail. The first, WordPress-specific one:
And the second one:
Of course, to really have your finger on the pulse, I highly encourage you to subscribe to some popular SEO blogs to get the most updated top-of-the-line advice available; blogs like SEOmoz.
Not every entrepreneur enjoys this fact, but a big part of growing an online business has a direct connection to SEO. And although you can outsource SEO tasks completely, I don’t think you should. Essentially, SEO is your most powerful method of promotion and often the thing that defines your online being. Having at least some control over it gives you the ability to take action in case something unpredictable happens, hence, the importance of education and learning the basics of SEO at the least.
Anyway, what do you think? Do you take an active part in your online business’ SEO?
Dangerous SEO – How Not To Fall Victim | newInternetOrder.com