1) Keyword Selection - Perhaps more often overlooked than any step in search engine optimization, choosing the right keywords and phrases to optimize is crucial. If you choose keywords that few people are searching for, then you can achieve a dozen top rankings, yet nobody will show up at your site.

Just as bad, choosing keywords that are too competitive will frustrate your attemps to rise to the top.

Furthermore, if you choose keywords that are not closely related to the type of buyer you cater to, then visitors will arrive at your site but never make a purchase.

The solution? Simply make a list of relevant keywords that balance both popularity and competition. Web Placement Optimizers will analyze and brainstorm keywords and narrow that list by ordering them based on both popularity and competition factors.

2) Measure your rankings - Before you can improve your positions, you must know where you rank for the keywords and phrases that relate to your business products and services. At this point we will calibrate where you place on critical search phrases on the major search engines.

3) Page Creation and Optimization - This is the heart and soul of search engine marketing. If you don't know what the search engines are looking for when they rank pages, then your best keywords and ranking metrics are fruitless. This is the part that makes all the difference in your ability to compete effectively.

What is Web page optimization? Simply put, your goal is to give the search engine what it wants to see. The easiest way to determine what it's looking for is to study pages already ranking in the top 10 and to emulate key aspects of those pages on your own site. This does not mean plagiarizing text from your competition. Instead, it means emulating the basic statistical elements of the page such as keyword counts, link popularity, word counts, and other criteria.

Obviously, doing this by hand can be a daunting task even for a trained mathematician. We will analyze the densities of keywords on your page and your competition's pages, do the math, and make specific recommendations for improvement. Help links are provided to explain each step. It also includes an extensive knowledge base of tips and strategies for achieving top ten placements. The tips will vary for each search engine based upon its particular preferences.

Besides using a tool like WebPosition Tools, books and newsletters can also be a valuable resource for staying informed. Books are often less helpful though, as it doesn't take long before they become out of date in this industry. In addition, both kinds of resources can only go so far in their advice, whereas a software product can analyze your specific page, engine, and keyword choice, making recommendations much more appropriate to your situation.

4) Uploading - For many, this step will seem obvious. For novices however, it's important to remember that anytime you make changes to your Web pages, you must upload the changes to your Web site. You can do this via your favorite FTP program, or an application like WebPosition Gold or Dreamweaver that has uploading built-in.

5) Submitting - This is perhaps the best known of the seven steps, partly because you see so many advertisements for bulk submission to hundreds, or even thousands of web sites. These services stay in business because people are attracted to the promise of a single-click, silver bullet solution. Unfortunately, submission is only one part of the process, and a minor one at that. Most of the sites on these bulk submission lists are not search engines at all, but simply scripts designed to gather names and e-mail addresses from unsuspecting search engine marketers. Only a relative handful of search engines command enough traffic to be worth promoting to.

Submissions today can easily be done by hand or via a submission tool. Once you build some third-party links to your Web site, most engines like Google will re-spider your pages regularly without the need to re-submit.

6) Traffic and Revenue Tracking - Ultimately, it is not top rankings you are after, but more traffic and sales. This is where your investment in search engine optimization really pays off. Once you get your traffic-building pages set up, then the pay off comes in month after month. There are many good tools out there for tracking traffic, with some that will even track revenues. WebPosition Gold includes one that does both, powered by HitsLink. Besides the usual reports, it shows you your revenues by keyword, engine, advertising campaign, and other demographics.

7) Follow up and fine-tuning - While some pages may rank well for a year or more without change, most pages will require refinements as the search engines change their ranking algorithm, and bring new pages online. It's important to measure your rankings at least monthly. Re-optimize any pages that drop in rank leveraging the latest Page Critic advice, and then re-submit or wait for the engine to revisit the page. After that, just sit back and smile as you watch all the visitors flooding month after month into your Web site. The best part is that all that traffic is free, and highly targeted.

SEO may seem like a daunting task at first glance. But you'd be surprised at how much working with an experienced SEO like Web Placement Optimizers can organize and simplify the process for you, and bring you more web traffic and sales.