Is do it yourself SEO really possible for beginners? The answer is a qualified “Yes!”
As long as you have some basic computer skills, know a little bit about website design and how the search engines work, you can do your own basic search engine optimization and produce good results. And, the only investment required is your time and energy. In fact, in many ways, it’s the best, least expensive way for someone new to internet marketing to get started.
Once you’ve successfully created your own SEO campaign, you’ll also be in a better position to hire professional SEO help in the future. You’ll have a much clearer idea about what kind of results you want and the acceptable methods for achieving those results.
Organic SEO (focuses on improving your site’s natural search rankings) seems to get more complex with each passing day, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist or brain surgeon to learn the basic principles. There is a lot of free information available online on the subject as long as you have the time to study and implement it yourself.
Here are five basic things you need to learn to get started:
1. How to choose the right domain name
2. How to choose the correct keywords
3. How to best use keywords in file names and folders, title pages, site navigation, META descriptions and article content
4. How to obtain good quality incoming links
5. How to create an effective site map
There are many other more advanced SEO techniques, but if you focus on these basic five steps, you’ll be on your way to SEO success. And it won’t take a big SEO budget to get results that can make a difference to your bottom line.
Beginners often don’t realize that SEO doesn’t happen overnight, so you must learn to be patient and not get discouraged if it takes time to see results. As your skills improve, you’ll realize that SEO is an ongoing project and will never be completely “done.”
Once you’ve educated yourself on the SEO basics, you may want to explore the benefits of hiring a professional SEO to improve your results. The rules are constantly changing and many amateur SEO practitioners find that staying on top of the current situation, making constant improvements to their websites and monitoring keywords and statistics can easily become a full time job.
When and if you reach the point that SEO is taking more of your time and energy than it seems worth, consider turning the project over to a professional.