Starting out with SEO

What are the first steps of SEO. I have my website probably about 6 months old not done yet will be shortly.

I want to start optimizing it but im not sure on what the first steps are to doing that.

Any help would be appreciated

 

Here are my recommendations for SEO first steps

1) Solid web hosting. You waste time and effort if you have frequent downtime
2) Website: get your website ready for optimization by creating detailed meta tags for each page, sitemap, label images, etc
3) Links : Add your website in your signature on a couple of forums
4) Submission: (Before submitting make sure that you know how often the top 3 robots will visit your website) Submit your website to search engines & directories
5) Fresh Content: Add fresh content to your website on a regular basis.

 

I recommend getting one of the books on SEO. That will be a good introduction to the topic.

 

for $79 SEO Book by Aaron Wall (ebook) is probably the best in the industry right now. Plus he gives frequent updates on his blog so that's always a plus.

If you want to go the free route however, I suggest reading some of the guides over at SEOmoz

 

here is the most recommended reading for you... for first time webmasters..

http://www.myseoblog.net/2007/11/05/first-time-webmaster-the-things-you-need-to-do/

 

Remember the golden rule of SEO advice - if someone's trying to sell you "advice", RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN. Seriously. I don't have anything against Aaron, but books like his often have to include speculation and theories instead of (or alongside, in Aaron's case) solid information (facts) and the core fundamentals in order to keep the money flowing.

If I were the OP, I'd personally read Chris Beasley's (if you're a SitePoint regular, you'll know him as aspen) SEO Guide over at websitepublisher.net/seo-guide. Of course, the link in my signature (it goes to a thread here on DP) wouldn't hurt either.

 

Finding/Targeting the right search terms ... http://inventory.overture.com

Thanks

 

If its really your first time in SEO, I suggest you to be familiarized first on seo jargons. Read SEO books and analyze things. Think of a competitive keyword.

Then start doing on-page and off page optimization

 

start on finding competitive keyword, then onpage, then off page

 

The first thing to do is forget about on site seo and start doing some real marketing. Get bloggers and news sites talking about your site and linking to you.

Until you get some quality links (not from forums or directories) you won't rank for anything anyway.

 

Sorry mad4, I just don't buy that. You need to optimize the site first before you get people to talk about it (besides, optimizing the site properly can help prevent people saying all the wrong things about your site; for example, you may get a few PR 6 backlinks to your site, but if the the pages that are linking to your site are saying how much it sucks, nobody's going to take your site seriously).

Besides, most of what many people consider to be "on-site SEO" is really just proper copywriting, information architecture, site development, and usability/accessibility checking anyway. If you're not willing to do that, then don't be surprised if people think that your site just isn't worth their time.

 

Actually I am not sure anyone is going to buy it. Even tho I think marketing should be third or fourth step of "What should I do about my site" but as far as it regards search engine optimization and the lovely free traffic than why stop at it?