{"id":5365,"date":"2011-11-14T09:54:02","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T17:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/?p=5365"},"modified":"2015-09-30T18:56:36","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T18:56:36","slug":"10-things-to-avoid-when-building-a-seo-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/10-things-to-avoid-when-building-a-seo-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things to Avoid When Building a SEO Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'Search-Engine-Marketing'<\/a>A few weeks ago I had a now ex-client email me that they had basically figured it out, how make their not yet launched online business succeed…<\/p>\n

Write a blog about them (products),\u00a0 link to a huge company and be paid as an affiliate. Not worried about seo, will pay someone $50 and use pay per click.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thinking that SEO is solved by paying someone $50 is not a SEO strategy that will succeed. SEO is something that scares many people, but really at the core it is about consistently using keywords across your site, writing great content and growing inbound links. If you can manage those three things you have a solid SEO base to grow upon. But, you have to do these things daily. You don’t do this once and then think you are set. Sorry, but $50 is not SEO. You also don’t launch a SEO strategy and think you will have results by the end of the month. It takes time.<\/p>\n

The post below by Basic Blog Tips provides a good list of SEO actions you should avoid.<\/p>\n

SEO Practices to Avoid<\/h2>\n

#1.\u00a0 Avoiding SEO Practices Altogether<\/h2>\n

This is one of those terrible SEO practices that most webmasters cannot avoid. The problem lies with lack of knowledge. When you build your first website there are so many elements to learn that Search Engine Optimization often gets neglected.\u00a0 SEO practices are very hard to grasp and sometimes it is easier to avoid, but this is a major crime. If you do not perform search engine optimization on your blogs and websites, you might as well build a gift shop in the desert.<\/p>\n

Performing SEO on your website will tell the search engines what your website is about and therefore they can serve it to their customers who are searching for that particular content.<\/p>\n

#2.\u00a0 Picking the Wrong Keywords<\/h2>\n

Unfortunately to build a successful blog you will need to know how to find the right keywords and how to use them<\/a>. The entire Internet is based on keywords. If you think about it people type keywords into the search engines to find websites. Websites are just made up of words. These are the most successful websites.<\/p>\n

You need to find keywords that people are searching for. There is absolutely no point choosing a keyword that no one is looking for in the search engines. There are many ways to research keywords and you can choose to use either paid software, such as keyword elite or market samurai, or you can use the free Google keyword tool.<\/p>\n

#3.\u00a0 Not realizing Content is King<\/h2>\n

What\u2019s the point of performing SEO if you have terrible, worthless content? All that hard work on SEO will not help when people see your web content and hate it. It\u2019s just that simple, content is king and if you do not realize this you will have a problem. Your content can be king in your blog, in a membership site, or even in your free reports.<\/p>\n

#4.\u00a0 Not Submitting a Sitemap<\/h2>\n

Webmasters often presume that because their blog gets updated regularly and they have automated systems in place, that they do not need a sitemap. Well this is wrong. You need to submit a sitemap to all the relevant search engines to clearly show them what is available on your website. It is like handing out step by step instructions, rather than letting people accidentally discover your content and find out what it is.<\/p>\n

#5.\u00a0 Never Visiting Google Webmaster Tools<\/h2>\n

Google Webmaster tools has now integrated with Google analytics, however it has always had its own interesting information to share. You can submit a site map to Google Webmaster tools, check on crawling errors, duplicate content, back links to your site, and so on. All Webmasters should visit Google Webmaster tools. This is a one of those SEO practices you should never avoid.<\/p>\n

#6.\u00a0 Never Check your Website Stats<\/h2>\n

Not following your website statistics<\/a> is a major crime in the Internet world. You need to be aware of what results your website is producing. You can find details such as traffic sources, keywords used in search, website bounce rate<\/a>, and so on. You should be using these statistics to improve your website further and to gain more traffic and followers.<\/p>\n

I find Google Analytics has the most detailed information about your website statistics. You can also set goals, track conversions, and even see the posts that have the most AdSense earnings.<\/p>\n

By checking your website stats you can:<\/strong><\/p>\n