SEO Tips of the Trade

As a business owner you probably are already aware that getting ranked well on the major search engines is a challenge at best.

Clearly today the ranking system is NOT FAIR no matter what anyone tells you.
Where there is money to be made there is someone who is willing to manipulate the system to get ahead of the other competition.

There are thousands of people out there who call themselves SEO experts. They will tell you for a fee they will get you to the top of any keyword page. My advice? 1.) ignore them! 2.) Before you give them a penny get a contract that refunds your money when they do not come through with the promise. The truth is your site will be spidered and ranked before any SEO can do the job for you ALL for FREE. So do your part and be ahead of the game.

It is your job as a business person to be informed ... it can end up saving you thousands of dollars in the long run.

The latest SEO and ranking business is the company or companies that say they have cut a deal with google and yahoo to get you to the top 3 spots on a keyword page. These companies will cut a deal for you that sets up a contract for 3, 6 or 12 months. You pay the price per month (usually in the hundreds of dollars) and indeed you will sit in position 1, 2 or 3 above all of the sponsored per clicks).

Can you as a business owner afford it!
That is up to you. Of all of the sellers who want to get you ranked better for a fee these in my opinion are the best to date providing you can afford them.

What can you do on your own?
Well to start follow these few RULES

Once you have done what you can on your index page run a basic check at http://whois.domaintools.com/
simply type in your domain name and voila up pops a page with all of your site information on it. Can be quite the eye opener.
This will give you an immediate idea of how well you have done the above steps.
Keep in mind you want to get as close to 100% as you can.
It does not mean you will be at the top of your keywords choice but at least it is a valid start and you can do it on your own for FREE.
Keep in mind your free work is probably better than what the so called SEO experts will charge you to do.

Since this information is geared for the owner of the Avactis Shopping Cart and entering information on your own product. Here is what is important to know. When you enter your new product the window will look like this:



Click the little + sign to open the SEO part of the entry box. It will now look like this:

Give these areas careful consideration because they can make or break your product entry in the ranking world.
Keep in mind the RULES you have learned above.
Keep your keywords few.
Putting 30 keywords does one thing ... it lessens your chance of being found anywhere. Choose a main keyword or 2 in the place you want and expect to be found
. Have that keyword in your title and description and use it for the SEO URL prefix.

Setting up your directories with your keywords in them is most helpful.
If you are selling widget's then have your shop directory called "widget's" rather than "shop".
You might want to note the addresses for this particular site and the name of the domain itself.
http://avactis-store-styles.com/templates/
All of my keywords are in the name of my site address.
All of the store styles are housed here:
http://avactis-store-styles.com/store-styles/watches1/

That is where I want to be found on google and that is where I will be found.

Last but not least GET business cards with your site address.
Send it along with every sale you make. You might be surprised at what a good investment that is. People save business carts and its a handy reference. The more people who visit your site will up your rank with the search engines. That simple little thing helps get more people visiting one of my sites per month. It is the best kind of exposure because people will have your product by then. Hopefully they will be impressed enough to return and tell others about you.

Be patient Rome was not built in a day.