SEO Best Practices

You have a site. You want, no, need traffic. Traffic = Cash Money. But, you are new to the cyber world of business. So, what do you do? “I optimize for search engines,” you say with a smile. Confidence is great. How are you going to complete your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

That is a good question to ask. Google, the Search Engine gods, have their mysterious ways of managing this. They also change these ways several times a year. Not that they make it common knowledge for the new entrepreneur. How and what these changes are is probably not relevant to you or your business.

It once was that we could simply stuff our page and tags with all sorts of single words. It might have looked something like; write, writing, business, seo, search, engine, optimization, best … and so on. Not anymore. The Engine Gods got wise to this. They write algorithms to keep people who do this off the top of the search results list. The thing to do nowadays is to use key phrases. Make these phrases descriptive using words or terms that your target audience is likely to seek out. Something like “SEO Optimization Best Practices” and the like. This change will possibly stretch your creative muscle a bit, at first, but it makes sense.

It makes sense because, knowing why someone is searching a topic and what they want, is more accurately captured in a statement than a pile of words that are just shot-gunning for results. After all, you want the right people to find your page.

The content of your page has to be tailored for the audience you really want. How frustrating is it to run a search, for the umptieth time, and see a long list of promising results. But, when you click the top links, you get … nothing. It feels like trying to pick up the last person at the bar at closing time. They pass out in the car on the way out, don’t they? Not the image you want for your business, is it?

So, you or you writer create content that is written for your audience, your seekers. It has to be high quality and relevant. Here’s the rub, as stated above, you cannot just pepper your page with a plethora of “key words.” Those key phrases we talked about will go nicely in the text as well as the key word tags. So long as they are accurate, engaging, and further the service you are providing the customer, these terms will appear in the body of your work.

Placing your links on other sites is a prime method of driving traffic to your page. The links should be clear, should include key terms, and condensed. Long strings of characters and numbers actually puts people off. We are told not to judge a book by its cover, but we all judge a site by its link. Does it look legitimate? If not, there goes a potential paycheck.

When you go to post your link somewhere, say on social media (there’s that F-place) you will include a concise and informative description of what the link will take your reader to. Does the description grab the reader? Will it really link to what the reader is told? Can it be Tweeted easily? Between Facebook and Twitter, that is a significant amount of potential clicks. One study shows that 47% of Americans rely on Facebook for advertising choices. Thank you, Jeff Bullas, for putting that together.

Between FB, Twitter, and reddit you have a significant amount of visibility. Make it look great.

Now, the final aspect is your page itself. Is it easy to navigate? Does your reader have to click link after link after link to find what they want and need? Does it load quickly? Speed and aesthetics can make or break you.

Another aspect to consider is using meta tags. Meta tags are a way for webmasters to tell the search engines what they are all about; that is, what the site is all about. These tags are placed in the HTML text for your page. They operate behind the scenes. Using tags alone will not necessarily bump your status up on search engines, but they are still useful.

When using multiple approaches, such as these, you are increasing your visibility and ratability for both readers, customers, and search engines. Remember that old adage, “There is strength in numbers.” Use multiple approaches and you will increase your traffic flow.

Making New Habits Stick

Whether you are an entrepreneur, a manager, worker, student or other making new habits is a difficult and trying task. It is something that successful people seem to have made look easy. It isn’t, though, is it? How do professional athletes and elite forces make new habits? They build muscle memory. Your brain is your best muscle. Or, at least, it should be.

By actively using the steps outlined below you can be pretty certain that you will have new habits in place and benefiting from them. It won’t be overnight, not in the least.  New habits are instilled, on average, over about 21 days. This time frame is based on the observations of a plastic surgeon from the 1950s.

“What can a plastic surgeon from almost 70 years ago know about making habits?” Good question. He noted that his patients took an average of 21 days to get accustomed to the change. Be it their nose, cheekbones, an amputation the time to get used to the change was around 21 days. I am inclined to agree with that timeline.

Making Habits Stick

During the initial habit making you will go through the following phases. There are the Glory Days. There is the Rough Run. Finally, it begins to settle in to a comfortable habit. The Glory Days are the first several days of the new habit. Everything feels new and exciting. The Rough Run comes after the new car smell has faded. Then there is the Comfortable Habit. This is when you are doing just what you set out to do in the first place. It feels good. Good results are coming in.

Visualize what this new habit will look like. See it so vividly in your mind that you can feel and taste it. Bring in all of your senses when visualizing the success of the new habit. Elite forces like Navy SEALS and Army Special Forces do this with their training and making new habits. Top rated athletes practice this. They play each step of the game in their mind before getting onto the field. Martial artists do this to help solidify their techniques. Research shows that by visualizing your actions and the success of them actually makes the neural connections necessary for the new act. It also does trigger some physical adaptation for it, as well.

How does one get through the Rough Run? Linking personal positive rewards as a way to mark hitting the milestone.

Link Positives to making new healthy habits. Treat yourself to something that involves as many senses as you can to reward yourself. Something I like, and miss from my days in Europe, is sitting back with a cappuccino. I use them now as a reward for achieving a set goal and for making new habits. Cappuccino smells wonderful. It tastes grand. It even has its own feel in your mouth. The sound of the milk being frothed is the audible cue that things are great.  Even seeing the foam reminds me of those late afternoon coffees sitting near the curb or a heater in a café. This is the sort of thing that brings all of you together to celebrate your achievement.

Sometimes life will knock you out of the new track before it becomes a healthy rut. At these times you have to head back into your healthy habit as fast as you can. As fast as you can without stressing out, that is. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for about 12 breaths. That will take approximately 2 to 3 minutes if you are breathing fully and deeply. These breaths will not only help slow you down, but they will flood your system with more oxygen. The higher O2 content will feed your brain. There you have it, you are reset and ready to reengage.

Visualize the new habit as a regular attribute or action. Breathe deeply. Refocus on the goal. Then, with your mind calmed, cleared, and full of O2 step back into your habit. After the 21 days are done you will find that coming back into the track is easier and that getting knocked out of it is less perturbing.

Overcoming the Difficulty of Change

Social Media is a time suck. It’s a Soap Opera that you are “involved” with. As opposed to living vicariously through TV characters, you are living vicariously through online “activities” that have no real impact or meaningful result.

This is vicarious living. Vicarious finds its root in Latin meaning substitute, getting something secondhand. What you are looking for is “thrill” without the risk. I must tell you that “thrill” without “risk” gains you nothing. It is all time and energy wasted, taken away from your goals.

It has become a national pastime. Just take a look at the number of “social” platforms that have and continue to be popular.

How many means of vicarious living do we have? Texts. Emails. YouTube. Face page applications. Twitter. News bites not news. These are ways in which we all live through other people or events without risking anything. Nothing. So, what do you do?

First, take a good, long, hard look at yourself in the mirror. Now, be honest with yourself. Brutally honest. Accept that you are wasting time and energy on uselessness. Next, you need to make a solid plan. This plan begins with tracking everything you do during your work day. Absolutely everything and how long you are at each thing.

Second, remember. Remember why you are now doing what you are doing. Why did you decide to start your own business? Why did you request to work remotely? What is it you are trying to build?

Third, take out and study your business plan. Read all of those “mission statements” you have spent hours writing. Do you have family? Take out their pictures.

These things should hit you. I don’t know where you feel it, but you should very well feel something. Maybe it’s in the pit of your stomach. Maybe your heart flutters. You get chills. Whatever it is, you know it. This is your support package.

There is your motivation. This is the “why” behind what you are trying to do. Let go of the motivation porn and use your “why” to help drive you move forward.

Moving forward will not always feel good. It will not feel like the vicarious life you have been hiding behind. At these moments of doubt, and it is doubt, you have to focus on your support package. Find the strength to focus.

Now, remember your goal. This goal is, the end game, is your target. As in driving, most obviously on a motorcycle (no vicarious thrill in that, it’s all tactile and first hand), your business will go there. You are in the driver’s seat and your business is the vehicle. There is no doubt about it.