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10 Easy SEO Tips:  Most Common Mistakes You Can Fix Yourself
By LJ Stewart

I do a lot of non-profit work. So much so that my husband thinks I should register my own business as a charity. I work with many single moms and women struggling to get back on their feet or trying to start a new business. Their business concepts are sound and their ideas good. I started out just taking a quick look at their sites to give the odd suggestion or tip and then after looking at these sites knew that with just a few small changes there would be a big impact on their traffic and ranking. I have limited time so I try and go for the fixes that will have the most impact and are usually the easiest to fix. If you are an experienced SEO professional than this article is not for you. If you are a site owner overwhelmed by the whole concept of SEO or just getting your feet wet and don’t know where to start- then read on- there will probably be a useful tip or two.

#1.  Bad Title and Meta Tags

My number one pet peeve.  A good title for your page is in my opinion the single most important factor when it comes to in-page optimization. The title of your page should not just be  "name of your company". You should have a keyword phrase in the title.  For example, if you have a site that sells hand made candles and the name of your company is “ Luminosity” Your home page title should NOT be “ Luminosity”, this is a mistake that 90% of all sites I see make. Title should contain keyword phrase like “Handmade Candles by Luminocity”. Or better ““Handmade Scented Candles and Natural Soy Candles-Luminocity”. Every page on your site should have unique Meta data (title, description and if you feel like it keywords). Your description should weave in the keyword phrase you used in your title and use less than 80 characters in description. . Keywords are virtually meaningless but if you must add them go ahead. If I do use them- I use my top 5 or 6 keywords and I don’t put comma’s in between-   I prefer to let search engines figure out the different combos.
Take the time to do this step. If you can only do one thing on this list then do this.

#2.  Using Graphics Instead of Viewable Text

I still do come across this. A site this has bulk of its text- embedded into graphics. Having a logo with your name or product description embedded into the graphic instead of using actual text. Spiders and bots cannot “see” images and the words embedded into pictures have no meaning. So have your mission statement embedded into fancy graphic may look great but will not index in any search engine. When using images on your site you should always use ALT tags to describe your image i.e. “blue soy candle” not only for non-sighted users but these are recognized by spiders.

#3.  No Standard Navigational Links

These are the links that are on pretty much every page of your site. You will see them most often at the bottom of a page and it will feature links that say things like “Home” and “Site Map”.  More and more I am seeing menus and navigational bars that use java script. These are nice but not crawl-able. Make sure you have things links in html format somewhere on you pages- most will sit these in footer or bottom of the page. This is also a good chance to use keywords. Try “Scented Candles” rather than “Our Products”.

#4. Large Image Files

Hard to believe- but this still happening. Potential buyers and clients will abandon their site if it takes too long to load. Most people are still using  dial-up and can’t wait for multiple and bulky images to download. Some easy tips- make sure you images are set to 72 pixel resolution. Resolution set higher than that it a waste and unnecessarily large. Most photo editors will allow you to set compression rate. Test different compression rates- you can reduce file size by more than have with no visible difference. If you really need the large images then consider using thumbnails that lead to a separate page. (This has added benefit of creating another page and more text that spiders and bots crave).

#5.  Lack of Content

Pages that have little or no text. A photo can always use a description and product can always be more than a name. When you have a bunch of pages that have little or no text sitting on same domain they can look the same to spiders and may get dumped as supplemental results. Go through your site and see if there are opportunities to add content. Elevate your SEO expertise and try using keywords in you copy. There are many excellent articles and resources for keyword research.
Consider adding content that has substance and offers related and valuable information to you products or services. Put up a page that describes all your different scents. List your most popular colours and styles. Tell your readers what candles are best for a dinner party and which are the most hypo-allergenic.  Get in the habit of creating content for your site. Commit to writing one new page a week or month. Think in terms of building your site wider rather than digging downwards.

#6.  Duplicate Content

Do not cut and paste and pass off other people’s work as your own. It’s not just unethical and illegal- most likely it will be picked up as duplicate content and dumped in supplemental results. This means that the search engines disregard any information on the page and your page may as well not exist. Keep this in mind if you plan on doing something like putting up another site with a different domain and different name and just copy your original web site. I have seen this done by many site owners thinking they have stumbled on the secret weapon to higher rankings. The results can be disastrous. I could write another article on all the bad things that can happen if you do this. Just don’t do it.

#7 No Back Links

By links I mean other sites linking to you. These are called inbound links or backlinks. I have worked on sites that have been up for months and are not indexed anywhere. Your site has to be linked somewhere- anywhere- on the internet to “exist” otherwise it is just a deserted island. Not having any inbound links is like opening up a flower shop in Antarctica and wondering where all the walk-by traffic is. If you have not done so suggest your site to DMOZ. Then look for other relevant directories. Almost every business or service will have niche directories where you can submit your site- most times for free. Visit other sites that are related to your and ask them to link to you. Try and think in terms of traffic and avoid the page rank trap. If a link will bring your site traffic then go for it.

If you are in a highly competitive market, than I take exception and you should learn how to build quality links or seriously consider hiring some one to do it for you.

Lisa Stewart is professional SEO consultant. Using the advice in this article will help with your web site promotion and getting higher rankings in the search engines in Canada.

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