With honed search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, any website can be listed in the top of the search engine results page (SERP).

This, of course, only happens when you know how to optimized site for the keyword/keyword phrase typed into the search box of Google, Yahoo, MSN, or other search engines.

Emerging on top of a search engine results page (first page) would unquestionably lead to more business for your company. That is why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a “must”.

For years, BIG companies have employed services from numerous Search Engine Marketing (SEM) establishments or individual SEO experts to deal with search engine optimization. The price tags for these SEO services are usually astronomical for small online business owners who wish to ‘join’ the search engine race.

The SEO services provided by these search marketing experts usually involved developing a more informative and user-friendly website and also included pay-per-click (PPC)–as an additional ‘optional’ cost .

When compared to a PPC campaign (e.g. Google Adwords campaign) done by these SEO services, Do-It-Yourself SEO isn’t so bad–PERIOD . To simply put, optimizing your website YOURSELF for organic searches (search engine searches) can yield positive results at a ridiculously low cost, compared to those SEO services.

If you would like to have a hands-on experience with search engine optimization and can’t afford a third-party SEO service, below are some helpful SEO techniques/tips you can learn to “do it yourself” to rank high on the search engine:

SEO Technique 1: Take some ‘lots’ of time developing your website’s content.

“Content is king”–hopefully, you have heard that before. If not, now you have =P.

Anyway, for most search engine optimized websites, content–high quality content–is the key.

When writing the content of your web pages, remember not only to SEO the right number of keyword density (1% – 4%) but also to keep your readers interests in mind. Insert vital keywords which relate to your company’s products and services only when it’s appropriate. Again, you readers interests should come first. Why? Because–if they get bored, due to that bombardment of repeated keywords and your company’s products/services, they will RUN; and, then, you will have no ‘potential’ or ‘long-term’ customer to sell to (in the future .

*Make your SEO content brief but–above all–INFORMATIVE. (Just like this sentence .

The reason is that most Internet users do not actually read a website’s content word-for-word. They just skim through the text and concentrate on the ‘parts’ and ‘data’ that they need or find interesting. Yup, a 600-word article may be too boring or too long for the “average” Internet user .

Anyway, in addition to keeping SEO content and keyword density in mind, also remember to keep your FACTS up-to-date. Why? Come on–don’t you like things updated? I know I do, because this helps bring the visitors back to your website over-and-over again for more and more ‘updated’ information, a.k.a. NEW information (to them).

*By the way, don’t forget to include a lot of FREE helpful links, articles and guides when appropriate. Don’t be too stingy to give out external links to relevant sources .

(See how important this SEO technique is? It’s the longest that I have covered–and it’s the #1 technique of all SEO techniques I’ll discuss…more below).

SEO Technique 2: Make the overall design of your website especially user-friendly.

Let’s face it: if users can’t ‘use’ your website/navigate to where they want, THEY WILL LEAVE.

In most cases of web design, the rule–”The simpler, the better”–applies: K-I-S-S KISS! (Keep-It-Simple-Stupid!)

To ’simply’ put, don’t design your website in an overly-complicated way that users will find it too “frightening” to browse for their ‘data’ and ‘needs’.

Also, try to adapt your website design to your target market. If your target audience is of young teenagers, make sure that the colors and designs are funky, youthful, attention-grabbing, and appealing to their tastes.

For a more mature audience, you ‘might’ want to use subdued colors and have a more elegant theme for your overall website’s design.

So basically, a website that’s usable, accessible, and alluringly engaging to the target market will stay ’sticky’ to the targeted users (they’ll come back to your website over-and-over again–to be ‘easily’ entertained .

This–a site’s design based on the USER’S usability, accessibility, and interactivity–is probably the queen of “Content is King.” *Note how I emphasize USERS: site design may be queen, content may be king, but USER is GOD–at least to your income anyway .

SEO Technique 3: Vary the keyword for each individual web page.

Think of every possible keywords or phrases that will apply to your products and services. Each user, however, is different and may not necessarily use the keyword that you expect them to type in the search box/bar. There are free SEO tools that can help you find the ‘correct’ keywords for search engine optimization. This I’ll cover more in-depth in the SEO Keyword Research category. For now let’s move on to SEO technique #4.

SEO Technique 4: Make sure that your hyper-links are visible, accessible and informatively KEYWORD-LOADED to specifically relevant pages on your website.

Providing users with hyper-links or HTML links which are useful and easy to find is yet another way to optimize your website (your visitors that is . There’s another SEO technique, keyword-loaded anchor text in hyper-links, which I’ll discuss in details in the SEO Links category. I don’t want to stretch this post to a 700 words essay .

Anyway, for now let’s move on to the last SEO technique.

SEO Technique 5: Learn how to LEAD traffic to the right place of your website that lead to your Most-Want-Response (MWR).

Seriously, seek experts’ advises on this field if you do not know how to lead traffic to the ‘target’ of your site. You should consider developing a plan and investing in necessary tools (aside from the free ones) to drive traffic your way.

But, of course, you have to have a way to measure your Return On Investment (ROI), if you’ve decided to make the necessary investment. These not-so-free SEO tools (e.g. WordTracker, Link Assistant, etc.) are must-haves if you want to have the TREMENDOUS edge over your competitions without having to pay ‘astronomical’ fees to the third party SEO services.

These SEO tools are similar to what major SEO services use to empower their SEO techniques. Please remember that they are paid-to-use tools for a reason. These reasons, plus in-depth SEO tools’ reviews, will be discussed in my posts in the SEO Tools category.

Anyway, that ends my rambling on “Do-It-Yourself SEO Techniques and Third Party SEO Services.” I hope it’s not too long or over 700 words .

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