Search Engine Optimization has exploded in the past year. Now all of a sudden everyone and their mom who understands what a keyword is, has a facebook account, and a blog, calls themself an SEO. I know what you’re thinking… what make you different? Honestly, not too much, but in this field a little goes a long way.
 
First off, I need to clarify that I am not actually “in” the field, I am by no means a full-time, or professional SEO.

1. Everyone can understand the purpose (unless you live under a rock, or do not have an email address)
2. It’s all about experimentation and ingenuity
3. You better like reading (or learn to like it fast)
4. You better be able to take advice (and not beat yourself up too bad, when something doesn’t work the way you thought it would)

Okay, let’s get started

The most important part about any SEO is the research; you’re only as good as the information that you have.
Here’s a short list of the absolute first things you have to do:

1. Learn your industries keywords
2. Learn your competitors keywords
3. Put together a list of 15-20 words that describe your business, your positioning, and your business model – these can often be derived from your company’s mission/vision.
4. Look up bid ranges for a PPC part of your campaign (even if you’re not ready to spend ad dollars yet)

Once you have your keyword strategy at least outlined, you can move forward with content optimization:
This is where we utilize what has come to be known as the 3 degrees of relevancy. Part one is to make sure you choose an adequate and descriptive title for your page, this should be evident due to the position on the navigation menu or sub-menu. Then be sure to tiel the content approprately, as to actually describe what the content is in reference to. Lastly, be sure you use those words throughout the page copy (be careful not to keyword stuff: stringing together less than gramaticallay/logically correct streams of your sites/pages keywords)

These are the very basic first steps toward optimizing a site: the keywords and the content.

My next tid-bit will cover meta-elements, blogging, and content origination (PR)