SEO is much more of an art than a science. The science is only a small portion of it. Search Engine Marketing also known as SEM or Search Marketing is a form of Internet Marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in the Search Engine result pages (SERPs).

Having a website that gets found in Google, Yahoo, and MSN, etc. isn't hard to do, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are my latest and greatest tips to get you started:

Some of the traditional SEO formulaic elements that you may have to use include putting the keyword phrase:

• in the domain name
• in the file name
• in the Title tag
• in the Meta description tag
• in the Meta keyword tag and in the image alt attributes
• in an H1 (or any H) tag
• as the first words on the page
• in bold and/or italics or a different color
• multiple times in the first paragraph or twice on the page
• in the copy in every single spot on the page where it might possibly make sense to use it, and
• in all the hyperlinks pointing to a page.

It is definitely not enough to simply add META tags and do search engine submission of your site to a million search engine indexes and directories.

The most important aspect to being a good SEO is creativity. You shouldn’t worry too much about the specifics of putting keyword phrases here and there, and again over there. Don’t need to change/add titles or anything to use one just for SEO purposes. Do things only if necessary to what you wanted to say to your target audience. And many images don’t really and truly make sense with a keyword phrase in their alt attribute (alt tag). Don’t force one to be there just for the search engines.

When you do SEO think like a search engineer and consider all the possible things they might have to combat both now and in the future. Always optimize for 3 or 4 or even up to 5 phrases, and spread them out throughout the entire page. People have misconception that first paragraph of a page is most important one and optimize that part alone. Never, ever, ever think that it’s the first paragraph that matters and stuff them all in there. There should be an equal distribution throughout the entire page, and you should never use the phrases so much that you hear them constantly when you read it.

It will look and sound dumb. If your copy reads poorly to a human, and does not come across as natural professional copywriting, the search engines won’t like it either.

When comes to SEO of your site, you need to really and truly understand your target audiences and how to speak to them about the benefits of what you offer. This may sound contrary to what I said earlier, but hear me out. The search engines look out for pages that best fit the keyword phrase someone types into their little search box. If they are typing in search words that relate to what your site offers, then they are most likely members of your target audience so make sure you optimize your site to meet *your target audience* needs.

Ever since local search engine optimization has become industry-accepted, webmasters and local business owners have wanted a way to benefit from it. It’s basically geo-targeting your audience when they search and also known as regional search.

Local search works best for the service provider, or a retailer that has numerous locations. The search volume for regional phrase is not as high as a non-regional phrase, but the best thing is the person who reaches your site will be a more targeted visit and most likely ready to convert. As internet search is growing faster, people have started to recognize the value of local search engine optimization on their site traffic.

If you're in business, you want people to be able to find you, right? So, here's what you need to do in order to rank for local seo:

• Be sure to have your location(s) full address
• If you have a regional number, list that as well since some people start with an area code
• Be sure to include driving directions to your location
• Use a mapping service to display your location
• Have pictures of your locations and name them with your street address
• Make sure your site appears in any regional directory that might be online
• If you can afford it, get listed in your local yellow pages
• Place the regions you want to rank for in your page titles
• Get text links that contain the regional phrase

Hope this helps to give you some ideas on how you might get out of formula-SEO mode and start doing more creative SEO. More than ever, SEO is much more of an art than a science. The science is only a small portion of it.

I have suggested a *free Search Engine Ranking website tool” in this month’s article...

Make sure you check it out today! Have a great day.