Never done SEO before...where do I start?

I have the META description/tags in is all so far. Now what do I do? Looks like I have to pay a ton of money to get things in directories or something? (such as dir.yahoo, v7, etc?)

Any other tips? Thanks

 

not just meta for on-page, actually you don't have to focus more on that... theres alot of factors of on-page... before you start the off-page...

 

wow you have a lot to go. get some free ebooks and read seo blogs for more info. meta tags and keywords are just the very basics of on site seo. good luck

 

Start with on-page optimization. Here are some considerations:
- does the non-www version redirect to the www version?
- what are the internal link anchor texts?
- are there dynamic titles?
- what is the structure like (number of folders in folders)? Is it flat?

Start there and good luck.

Disclosure: I own an internet marketing company that specializes in small business seo and ppc management.

 

First focus on keywords. Use a tool to gather your potentially most profitable keywords. A tool such as Wordtracker or Keyword Discovery is essential.

Once you have mapped keywords to specific pages on your site, you want to optimize these pages for these keywords. This includes title tags, header tags, site architecture, page copy, meta tags, etc.

Once your site structure and on-page attributes have been optimized, you want to focus on building links to your site. This can be done in a variety of ways but you really have to think outside the box and get creative here. Having your keywords in the link anchor text is a key factor as well.

 

Have a Quality good content relevant to your site.

 

Start by reading the Search Engine Optimization FAQ over at SitePoint.com (I already gave you the link to the thread). You might also be interested in my All You Need to Know About SEO thread (link is in my signature) as well.