Adam Hodgson provides us with an introductory 5 step process to search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing.

Step 1 - Identify keywords

Stephen Covey in his book 7 habits of highly effective people, taught us that we should begin with the end in mind. This is just as relevant to the digital marketing. You need to consider what terms someone will use when they looking for your business. These terms are called a keywords. Keywords will form the foundation of all of the future activities that will be performing on digital marketing. The objective of digital marketing is to improve and increase your brand exposure and improve and increase sales.

So let's discuss a real life example. I am a believer in the value of open source software and I have a website that educates the public on the savings open source software can generate for small and medium businesses. So what key words should we choose for these new website? The obvious starting point would be open source software. Then there are specific types of open source software that people would look for; Opensource CRM, Opensource alternative for Microsoft word and you would continue through the list.

When you have identified your keywords, you have a starting point to work with the remainder of the additional steps. Remember you will always be updating changing and expanding your keywords.

Step 2 - Structure website

Now that you have your key words you have the ability to structure your website such that those keywords can easily be found by the search engines and by users. In the structure of your website you need to make sure that these keywords a strategically placed in the site to maximize the visibility and prominence of those pages to the search engines. There are many uncles out there that explain methods of emphasizing keywords in your web pages. It is sufficient to say in this article that you need to include the words with enough frequency and placement to inform the search engine that the page is important on that particular word.

Step 3 - Generate links

There are two types of links that are important: internal links contained within your website and external links. Considering the internal winds should be part of structuring your website keywords should very prominent and should they went between the appropriate pages. It is essential to understand that full of these actions should be part of an overall objective to provide quality, relevant and informative content on your website to web site users.

External links are also an essential in identifying to the search engines that your website has information that he is useful to the public. Search engines use external links as part of their algorithm to determine the popularity and the relevance of a website. If lots of people setup links from their web site to your site because it provides useful information, the search engine will place you a higher in the search results.

Step 4 - Directory and search engine submissions

Now that you have identified the keywords structure your site with those keywords and have appropriate internal and external links to your site, you need to let the world know. One of the most effective ways to publicise is through submissions to directories and search engines. Depending on where you live, search engines make out a significant amount of traffic to a website. Clearly you can still get traffic through word of mouth and through links from other sites but if you neglect search engines and directories then you are missing a significant opportunity. The major search engines that most people use are Google and Yahoo and there are other regional and industry specific directories and search engines that you should consider.

Step 5 - Internet public relations activities

There's a greater level of skill and subtlety in performing your on-line public relations. It is important you understand the behaviors of your customers and potential customers to determine the appropriateness and targeted nature of your public relations activities. For example, if your potential customers are in a younger demographic you may want to develop some public relations initiatives related to the hosting information on Youtube. If they are in the fifties demographic this might not be as appropriate.

About the author.

Adam Hodgson is an expert in new business creation and specifically for power of the internet to generate new business. He has started, grown and sold many businesses and the foundation for the success of these businesses has been his knowledge and experience in effective digital marketing.

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