annecgreg 's List: White Hat Media PR

There is plenty of free or inexpensive help for those wanting to get to grips  with SEO, said Jeremy Spiller of the White Hat Media consultancy. “Buy a  book and check out some of the forums, where you will find some very good  how-to guides. The second step is to install Google Analytics on your  website; knowing your traffic is vital.  

 “After that, identify some reasonable objectives and work out how to reach  them. Local businesses should include their local area in keywords. Listing  on Google Local should also help. It’s all about understanding the sector  you are in and finding the best keywords to match your products.  

 “People can also make short videos very inexpensively. They showcase products  well on a website and they are usually well indexed by Google. You can also  use Youtube to promote your products this way and it’s free.” 

 Genuine links with other websites are also important, said Spiller. “About 65%  of the reason for a Google ranking is back-links to other sites and we spend  most of our time building back-links for our clients.  

 “You must create genuine back-links, though. Deals with east European link  farms are no use and can be harmful, whereas press releases, articles and  mentions in social media are very important. Something as simple as getting  a link on your local chamber of commerce or an item in the local paper can  make a difference.” 

 Pallecaros said there were other ways to boost your search-engine rankings.  “SEO is a big part of driving traffic to your site but don’t forget the  other things around that — for example, building a good e-mail list and  using it in e-mail campaigns or writing an article or a blog using the right  keywords.” 

 It is also important to look at optimising a website regularly, said Spiller.  “It’s not something you do as a project and then stand back. You should look  at it much more like tending a garden.”