SEO for Beginners

I just thought I would write a few words down about SEO for anybody interested.

Step #1

If you are interested in having your site found in Google, Bing, Yahoo, and the other search engines, you will definitely have to know something about SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  SEO is not easy and takes a lot of time, but definitely can be worth it.

For example:  If I were paying per visitor using PPC (Pay Per Click), I would likely be paying at east .10 cents a visitor.  This is approximately how much I was paying when I was using this form of advertising.

Right now, however, I get over 800 visitors just from one keyword (or keywords):  Chat Rooms   Plus, I also get tons of other visitors for other keywords and phrases.

Now think:  800 visitors would cost me $80 bucks if I was paying for it through PPC, and that's just for one day.  Now I'm not against PPC advertising.  However, I can't complain if someone wants to give me $80 worth of advertising a day for absolutely free.

So step one for SEO is deciding your Key Words.  These are the words or phrases you want to do well for.  In other words, what words will people likely search for in order to find your site?

I started out by trying to be #1 in Google for "Night Chat" and "Late Night Chat".  I was soooo happy when I finally got into the first position.  I was number one.  However, I was completely horrified to find out that being number one for these keywords was only sending me between 10 and 20 visitors a day.  That wasn't much at all.  A lot of work for very little.

So I then decided to rank for phrases like: Singles Chat, Singles Chat Rooms, Dating Chat, Dating Chat Rooms, etc.

Then when I got into the top 3 for these phrases, I knew I wouldn't be far away for ranking for Chat Rooms.  When I finally checked, I was amazed that I was already #54 in Google.com for Chat Rooms.  It only took me a few months to go from #54 to #4 (as of today).

So what does this mean?

Pick words and phrases that people are actually searching for.  There are tons of keyword research tools available if you search for them.  One tool I use a lot is Google's keyword tool.  It will tell you approximately how many people search for different keywords every month.

There was a guy on DP (Digital Point Forums) trying to sell a "high ranking" dating site some time ago.  He was advertising that the site was ranked #1 for "very important" keywords in Google.  When I requested he send me more info, I discovered that the keywords he was number one for was "lovely dating".  Now how many people search for "lovely dating" when looking for a dating site.  Come on.

Anyhow, please send me a message if you are interested or confused about this post.  I'm writing it really, really fast because my girlfriend is getting lonely and keeps calling to me ;-)

I will post about step #2 in my next post...coming soon.  Thanks for reading.

ps.  I will never, ever charge a penny for any SEO advice.  In fact, you couldn't even pay me if you wanted to.  I don't consider myself an expert, but I do know a lot.