Getting Started Guide

Though there are countless methods of internet marketing, this list is focused on the most important points of SEO, Business Directories, and Social Media. Something else to keep in mind is that this isn’t a checklist. Aiming to do everything on this list isn’t guaranteed to make an internet marketing campaign successful. Doing things well is often more important than doing as many as possible.

SEO

SEO has two primary areas it works in, on-page, and off-page. The biggest factors in on-page SEO are content related. The key is to make sure the content on your page includes the keywords people are searching for. Here are some of the bigger factors.

• Keywords in domain name and URLs – These are big factors and an excellent place to start using keywords. The farther left the keywords are, the better.
• Keywords in title tags – Another big factor which can be set up even before the page is written. Like in domain names and URLs, the farther left, the better.
• Keywords in headers – These get a little more attention then the keywords in the general body. As with the previous two entries, the farther left, the better.
• Alt attribute for pictures – The alt tags attached to pictures also receive special attention from search engines.

The off-page factors are centered on linking back to your site. Here are some of the bigger factors in links.

• PageRank of linking site – The more authority a website has the higher its PageRank will be. Getting linked to from high pagerank pagehelps more than getting linked to from a lower PageRank page.
• Anchor text - The anchor text of the link contributes to your site’s ranking for those words.

Online Business Directories

Online business directories are a great way to increase the visibility of your website.  Not only can users can search these directories for businesses and services as needed, but directory links also help your website rank better in search results. There are two main categories of online business directories.

• Free online business directories – There are many free directories out there, ranging from the massive DMOZ to smaller directories. One obvious benefit is that they’re free, but the drawback isthat they’re not as well maintained as paid directories.
• Paid online business directories – These directories require a one time fee or subscription cost. The benefit is that they have a dedicated staff working on maintaining and optimizing the directory.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a way to connect with potential customers through informal social networks. The information posted in social media needs to be related to your business or industry, but it also needs to maintain the social feel of the sites it is on.

• Blogs– These are the starting point for most social media campaigns. This is because they are very effective, and very easy to use. Blogs are a great way to circulate information, which brings us to the next category.
• RSS, Digg, del.icio.us – There isn’t much you can do directly with these services, but they’re important to have on your pages. People who visit your sites can increase its visibility with these services. If there is a posting that someone finds interesting, they can use these services to pass it along to other people. This way people who have never heard of your company can still find your material.
• Facebook, Twitter – If you’re ready to get fully immersed in social media marketing you can set up a Facebook or Twitter account for your company. Once you have a company page you can promote your company to everyone in the Facebook or Twitter community.   

Though not comprehensive by any means, this list is an excellent starting point for the areas of SEO, Business Directories, and Social Media Marking.