By Darryl DeLong

Any successful SEO implementation strategy should include the following:

1. Extensive Keyword Research - Research specific keywords or keyword phrases that will most likely bring the most relevant/targeted traffic to your website. Compile a list of relevant keywords/keyword phrases to optimize for on your home page, landing page, and any other pages of your website. Never try to shoot for very general keywords such as "jewelry" or "furniture". Rather, shoot for more targeted keyword phrases such as "M2 design Bracelets" or "swivel recliner".

2. Site Design Geared Towards Targeted Audience - Design your site content and navigation according to your keyword research and for your target market/audience. Never design your site just for the search engines, rather design your site for your "live" audience (visitors). When it makes sense to do so, plug your keywords into your navigation or web content. Your keyword research will reveal what people are searching for in various ways. Make sure your sites navigation and content showcase the various ways in which people are searching for what you have to offer. Make sure you also include your keywords/keyword phrases in the title/meta/keyword/ALT/Heading tags.

3. Website That Is "Spider/Crawling" Search Engine Friendly. - Use a Free HTML Validator to ensure your site is browser friendly and has no broken links. Having links that don't work will greater reduce your credibility with any potential prospects that tour your site. Make sure your site is more rich in content and less in fancy flash animations/javascript and images. Its not that these don't serve a purpose or should never be used its just that search engines cannot interpret Flash and graphics. Having a large number of images can also slow down how fast your site loads. Use the Website Speed Test found at www.iwebtool.com/speed_test to see how fast your site pages load. Its also a good idea to use HTML links in the top-level main navigation on each of the pages of your site.

4. Descriptive Anchor Text (visible text within a click-able text link) For All The Internal Links Of Your Site - Good descriptive navigational links will help your visitors find their way around your site and find what their looking for. Make it as easy as possible for your visitors to find their way around and use "call to action" links/buttons to get your visitors do what you want them to do once they find what their looking for. Do this and you will see a vast increase in conversions/sales and a greater ROI (return on investment) for your business.

5. Site That Is "Link-Worthy" - Having other sites link to yours is a vital element of any successful search engine optimization, as all of the major search engines place a good deal of emphasis on your sites overall link popularity.

Finally, is your site full of great content and information about your products/services? Does it clearly state the benefits and how it solves your target market/audience problem or problems? Is it a great resource for others? As a visitor can I easily find my way around your site? Does it capture my attention enough to keep me on the site or will I get bored and leave right away? Will other website owners be inclined to link to your site? These are the type of questions that you must answer in order to have a site that others will want to link to.

Any good web analytics tool will measure these results and give you a good indication of how your site measures up to desired results. If you hire an SEO consultant or SEO firm make sure they set you up with one. Eliminate the guesswork as much as possible and make decisions based on monitored website behavior.