SEO can be tricky and we all struggle to get it just right. I’ve attempted to layout for beginners a layman’s terms way of assuring your site is optimized for search engine. I hope you stay with me over the next couple days.

Mark your calendars:

Part 2 Wednesday 6/5/2013

Part 3, Thursday 6/6/2013

Part 4 Friday 6/7/13

Part 5 Saturday 6/8/2013

Bookmark it!

If you are a beginner and find this useful (and I hope you do) feel free to print and use as a reference as you build your own website

As a Virtual Assistant, we need to be multi-faceted more so than when working outside the home in corporate. Every day is learning something new (and it should be). As a start-up Virtual Assistant I’ve found I don’t have the resources to hire a web designer and it may be the case for you as well. But, that’s okay because as I learn new tasks (some big one’s I might add) it allows for another niche to be added to my portfolio. So, remember learning something new can be a grueling task but it comes with benefits.

With that said, I will move on to the topic of this post:

So, you want to build a website on your own and you have no prior experience at such a thing. This is what I have learned so far and remember it’s new to me and I want to share some key points I’ve learned so far. Here we go:

NOTE: Each checklist item has a much deeper and technical explanation and SEO reasoning behind it – I will only note a snippet of the explanation, just Google or Bing the phrase and you will find further information. However, I’ve provided some links and visuals to help you along the way.

—–>>>Excerpted from: Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. However, I have not performed any copy/paste methods here. It was important for me to learn more deeply by reading and researching and posting as I understand.

SEO Basics:

Page Titles:

•Create a unique title for each page on your site
•Use brief, but descriptive titles
•This will appear in the first line of search results (SEE graphic BELOW)

Avoid:

•Choosing a title that has no relation to the content of the page •Using a single title across all your site’s pages
•Using extremely lengthy titles
•Stuffing unneeded keywords in your title page

Page Descriptions:
•Describe each page with exact words about your page title
•Write a description that informs as this is what users will see in the search result
•This description will show up in the search result (SEE graphic ABOVE)

Avoid:

•Using generic descriptions like “Page about flowers” (What kind of flowers should be used)
•Copying a pasting the entire content of the document into the description
•Writing a description that has no relation to the content of the page

URL Wording:
•Use key words in URLs
•Use words that are relevant to your site’s content
•Visitors should be able to remember your sites URL
•Many users remember lower-case URL’s better

Avoid:

•Using lengthy URL’s
•Using excessive keywords (repeating the same word over and over)

Site Maps

—>>Excerpted from Xpandempire

What is a Site Map?

“A site map is a list of pages of that consists within a website. It is a visual planning tool for mapping out your website pages. A Site Map can be prepared before or after you have written your website content. Either way, a Site Map will compliment your content and will help your web developer better understand how your website should be developed.”
•Prepare two site maps: HTML (for your users) and XML (for search engines)
•HTML site map is a simple page of your site visitors can visit to find pages on your site
•XML site map is what you submit to Google’s Webmaster Tools for Google to discover the pages on your site

HTML site map:
•Keep it simple with links to all of the pages on your site
•Simply list pages without organizing them, by subject works
•Avoid: Letting your HTML site map page become out of date with broken links

XML site map:
•Submit through Google’s Webmaster Tools
•Use Google’s Sitemap Generator Script to help with this

More info about site maps

Customize 404 pages

Users will occasionally come across a page that doesn’t exist on your site (broken link or typing in the wrong URL you need to:
•Guide users back with a link back to a page on your site (See graphic BELOW: Home Page Link)

Be sure to include a link back to your site for Error 404

Avoid:

•Providing only a vague message like “Not found”
•Using a design for your 404 pages that is not consistent with the rest of your site

I hope this has been helpful to you. Again, it’s the basics and much deeper and technical explanations can certainly be found across the internet. Please don’t forget to mark your calendars for continuation of the topics below:

Mark your calendars: Come back https://carladeter.wordpress.com for part 2,3,4

Part 2 Wednesday 6/5/2013

(Writing easy-to-read text, staying organized, optimizing images)

Part 3, Thursday 6/6/2013

(Headings, Robots crawling, dealing with spam)

Part 4 Friday 6/7/13

(Notifying Google of your mobile site, promoting your site)

Bookmark it!

Comments Welcome – Go ahead 🙂

My Final Thought:

“By sharing what you learn ~ You remember it!”

Solutions not Services Email me with a synopsis of a project you need done. Let’s talk and allow me to help you with your to-do. Email me today: socialinfairfaxva@yahoo.com

Email me with a synopsis of a project you need done. Let’s talk and allow me to help you with your to-do list. Email me today: socialinfairfaxva@yahoo.com