How to build an SEO friendly website

The old saying goes: Build it, and they will come. But in this day in age, it’s a bit more complicated to find loyal customers.

To build a website that not only keeps the customers coming, but is search engine friendly enough to get the customers there in the first place, can be a very delicate and confusing process.

Technology has progressed to the point that short cuts are hard to come by. As a matter of fact it is better if you just don’t try to use any.

Here are some tips to get you on the right track with minimal headaches along the way.

1. Create your website with quality content. There is nothing better than this to keep traffic on your site.

Make sure each page is focused on five solid keywords in your meta tag. Any more than that, and Google will have a problem with it.

You will want to disperse your keywords evenly within the flow of your pages content. You don’t want to have any more or any less that one of each of your keywords per 100 characters. 100 characters comes more quickly than you think. So make sure you pay close attention.

2. Next you will want to make sure that all of the major search engines can find you the first time.

There are two ways you can go about doing this.

The first is of course to submit your website manually. You will need to follow each search engine’s directions carefully, and make sure to revisit them often to see if your site has been validated and categorized.

The second, and probably most effective way to do this, is to get a link to your website posted on a website that is already high ranking in Google or the other major search engines.

For a new webmaster this may be more difficult because you either need to have a blog or website that ranks highly that you can post your link to, or you need to find another webmaster that is willing to post your URL to theirs. It can be done, but remember that this is a competitive market and webmasters won’t be lining up to do this for you.

But that brings me to….

3. Creating back links and reciprocal links.

Search engine bots are constantly crawling around looking for more ways to get to websites. So having links from other pages to yours is a huge factor in where you rank with them.

Posting to blogs, forums, and article sites is a good way to get started with this. Be careful to follow the rules of these sites or you may get blacklisted.

Most of them only allow one link per article or blog. And most forums only allow links in your signature if at all. And NONE of them like spam. So make sure the link fits the subject of the forum, blog or article post. Also if you are an affiliate site, make sure they allow affiliate links.

Next, post your URL to some quality directories. Many of them charge a hefty fee, but they will certainly help you get ranking on Google. DMOZ (free but takes a loooong time) and yahoo are great directories to look into. But BE CAREFUL! The cost is only to be considered! Make sure your site meets the directory guidelines before you pay the fee!

Next, we’re back to smoozing with other webmasters for reciprocal links. Those are links they post on their site in exchange for you posting theirs on your. Like I said, I can be difficult to accomplish this. But it can be done and is well worth the effort if you can get on a high ranking page.
4. Advertise.

Yup. Pay for the chance for people to see your link. The more they click, the higher you rank on Google.