This article was originally published by Gregg Murray for Elance.com.

If you want your website to rank higher and more often in Google (or any other search engine), it’s essential that you know a handful of techniques regarding SEO (search engine optimization). When you optimize your web pages so Google can more easily find you, you’re sure to be found much more often when prospects are searching for your products or services while searching online. If you can take advantage of the five tips that follow, your web pages will receive more traffic from the people you really want to find you…potential clients and customers.

The most important word to remember through each of these tips is, “keywords.” Think of keywords as search engine magnets. The more relevant keywords you have, in the right places on your pages, the more energy you are giving Google to find your website and have it appear in search results.

Tip #1: The Power of Links
Each tip that follows is something you can do to your actual web pages that can improve your Google visibility, but this one doesn’t. My first tip is for you to get as many links as you can to your website, from other websites. These are called, “inbound links,” and Google loves them. When other websites have a link to your website, Google is more likely to see your website as authoritative and more important. This means everything else you do on your web pages when it comes to SEO will be more valuable. However, not all inbound links are created equal. The bigger the website you can get to link to you, the more impressed Google will be. Start with your Chamber of Commerce website, and keep it going from there.

Bonus Tip – Remember, “keywords” still matter in links. A link to your site (or even within your site) that is hyperlinked as a keyword is much (MUCH) more valuable than just a hyperlink that says, “click here” or “www.yourwebsiteaddress.com.”

Tip #2: Page Titles
Page titles appear as the headline in Google search results. You should have page titles that are both relevant to what’s on that specific page, as well as keyword rich. Google allows you to use up to 70 characters in your page title, so maximize that real estate wisely. A perfect headline example for an accountant in Raleigh, NC may be: “Raleigh, NC Accounting Services | Acme Accounting and Bookkeeping.” That took up 65-characters and contained several keywords that may be used when someone is looking for an accountant in Raleigh, NC. See how easy this is? :)

Bonus Tip: Here’s a link to a free SEO character counter. By the way, did you see how the link we just mentioned used keywords as the hyperlink? This is what I was talking about in Tip #1.

Tip #3: Page Descriptions
When you’re looking at any search result in Google, the non-bold text under the page title is a “page description.” Google allows you to utilize 155 characters for your page description. Use the same rules as the page titles tip, but also think of these 155 characters as a mini-ad for the content that’s on the specific page your optimizing. To follow up on the Raleigh, NC accountant example above, your page description may be: “Acme Accounting and Bookkeeping is a local Raleigh, NC firm specializing in accounting, write up, bookkeeping, payroll and tax preparation services.” That’s 148 characters that contains both a perfect description of your home page, which is also keyword rich.

Again, use the free SEO character counter to help you maximize the perfect page description.

Tip #4: Maximizing Page Content
The power of keywords also extends to the content on your web pages. Although your page copy doesn’t appear in the Google search results, Google will index this content to make sure it matches up with your page title and page description. You’re going to want at least 300 words on each of your pages for Google to index (500 is even better). Be sure your keywords are mentioned close to 3-5% of the page content. This means in our example, that the words, “Raleigh, NC Accounting” should be mentioned in some form at least 15 times in a 500 word page. But remember, you don’t want to make your keywords feel “stuffed” into your page. Spread them out, so they feel natural, and not forced.

Tip #5: More Pages = More Juice
The more pages you feed Google, the more juice you have on your site to be found by Google. The best way to do this is by having a blog as part of your website. A blog is a simple way to produce weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly articles, posts, or company information that can be picked up by Google. Not only do more pages give Google more information to find you (and display you in more search results), it also keeps your site fresh with content, which is another thing that Google loves.

Need help with your SEO? I know someone who can help ;-)

I love me some Scribe SEO!
Scribe makes SEO copywriting simple.

There hasn’t been a single time over the past month that I’ve published a new web page or blog post without using my new secret SEO weapon.

You’re probably wondering, is this a pitch or a review? Well, it’s a bit of both. It’s a pitch because I want those business owners and entrepreneurs who visit Website Blueprint and Website Elementary to have access to the same tools that I use; and this is one of them. As a bonus for me, if you click one of the links on this page and begin using Scribe SEO, you’ll be buying me an iced-coffee or two each month, because I get a commission from the affiliate link (thanks for the coffee!).

Most importantly, this post is a review and overview for you. I love Scribe and use it everyday. And I promise, if you struggle with SEO, you’ll love it too.

What is Scribe and why will you fall in love with it?

Scribe is a search engine optimization software service that analyzes your web content (with a click of a button) and then reports back in seconds to let you know what adjustments you need to make to get better search engine rankings (in other words…more Google juice!).

The thing that is such a relief is how all the guesswork out of optimizing your pages for Google SEO is eliminated. Sweet!

You receive an SEO score for each page you analyze. It also provides a keyword analysis tab that lets you know what words Google will see as most important on that page or post. This is nice, because you can adjust the keywords in your text so Google will know the exact topic (keywords) you want to feature on that page. Just the fact that a piece of software can walk you easily through that process is amazing.

Take a look at this video demo.

Here’s a report I got back after editing a page a few minutes ago. You’ll see that my page is on target for all elements, except there is no hyperlink toward the top of my page (did you realize that was important?). Anyhow, I can go in, add a link towards the beginning, and take my score from 88% to 100% just like that. Scroll back up and look at the opening of this post. See how I slipped in the link at the top of the page.

Pricing starts at only $17 a month. And that’s a steal if SEO is important to the growth of your website and/or blog.

If you want to learn more, click here to grab your free SEO copywriting report written by Copyblogger founder, Brian Clark. It’s an amazing guide that tells you exactly what’s most important to achieve higher Google rankings and some simple things you can do to make your website or blog much more prominent with Google.

I read it and reread it while sitting on the beach when I was in Hilton Head last week (how sad is that!). What can I say, it was that damn interesting.

By the way, this post just scored at 100%!

Access the complete Creating a Business Website series.

Keeping fresh content on your website is very important for your positioning with Google and the other search engines. You see, search engines love fresh content. Google, Yahoo! and Bing consider a website that doesn’t change for long periods of time as less important than others, and in the process you can lose some of your search engine credibility and positioning.

But, when you consistently add new content to your website, the search engine gods are more likely to reward you with higher search rankings. OK, it may not be that deep, but it works.

So then, what’s the best way to keep your website fresh with new material? Your best choice is to add the type of information we discussed for your email marketing messages. These included helpful tips, company news, promotion/sales information, etc…

And the great part is that it’s a win-win for you. By adding this new information to your website every couple of weeks, you’re going to not only receive Google/search engine benefits, but you’ll also have great content for your monthly or bi-monthly eblasts.

You can consider calling this page on your website something like, “News.” But, do you want to know the secret of what this page really is? It is a blog! That’s right, for a small business person, having a “blog” as part of your website pays really big benefits. Now, if I had initially asked you to add a “blog,” instead of a “News” page to your website, I may have lost you. After all, may small business owners don’t think of a blog as a pure online business tool. But, it can be. Big time!

In less than five minutes you can login to your blog’s online control panel, type in a paragraph about your new fall promotion, new extended summer hours, helpful tip or new staff member, and Google will see your site as fresh and more relevant. Not only that, but as you’re adding this new content to your site, you’re automatically creating new web pages (the blog’s software does it for you) with a lot of great keywords related to your business. That means even more opportunities to be found during search inquiries.

Also, with the Aweber email marketing service I mentioned earlier, your blog posts can be sent automatically to your email list. How sweet is that?

This is Part 7 of Creating a Business Website. View the rest of this series:
Part 1 | Keep it Simple
Part 2 | Don’t Go Alone
Part 3 | Think Like Them
Part 4 | Get Clicked!
Part 5 | Build Relationships
Part 6 | Promote Your Website
Part 7 | Keep it Fresh

Access the complete Creating a Business Website series.

Access the complete Creating a Business Website series.

One day you will have a website up and running that you’re proud of and you know is an asset to your business. But, how are you going to drive people to it?

There are two ways to get traffic to your website: promote it (which we’ll cover later) or get it to show up in search engines, such as Google, Yahoo! or Bing.

Ahhhh, the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). There are many books on the subject, there are hundreds of websites dedicated to it, and there are many highly skilled professionals out there that make their living from it. It’s all about getting that search engine “Google Juice!”

Here’s the good news. For a small business owner looking to get people to find your website by searching on Google, the process of getting your business on the first page of local search results is a relatively easy process. The hard part about SEO is if you are trying to compete nationally. That’s because when you’re searching for a generic product or website, you don’t add a location into your search terms. When you’re looking for something locally, you naturally add your location (town/city/region/neighborhood) to your search. If you owned a dry cleaning business, getting it on to the first page of Google (or any of the search engines) is hard to do under the search term, “dry cleaner.” But, getting that same business to show up under “dry cleaner in downtown Poughkeepsie” is much less difficult.

By understanding the right words to add into your pages, page titles, and meta-description, you should be able to rank high locally in Google and the other search engines in a short amount of time (a few weeks). The key for the local business owner is to know what keywords to utilize and where they should be placed. What should your “keywords” be? Ask a few friends and family members what phrase they would use if they were searching for the product/service you sell. If I were looking for a dry cleaner in downtown Poughkeepsie, I would type in the obvious phrase, “dry cleaner in downtown Poughkeepsie.”

1. Be sure that the phrase “dry cleaner downtown Poughkeepsie” is located multiple times on your home page and throughout your website.
2. Be sure the phrase “dry cleaner downtown Poughkeepsie” is located in your page titles.
3. Be sure the phrase “dry cleaner downtown Poughkeepsie” is located in your page description.

If you only do those three things, you’re going to have done more than many of your competitors and put yourself at a big advantage when it comes to appearing on the first page of Google and the other search engines. There are obviously many other techniques that can be done that are beyond the scope of this guide, but by just doing the three steps mentioned above, you’ll have given your website it’s first big boost for appearing on the first page of the search engines.

This is Part 4 of Creating a Business Website. View the rest of this series:
Part 1 | Keep it Simple
Part 2 | Don’t Go Alone
Part 3 | Think Like Them
Part 4 | Get Clicked!

Access the complete Creating a Business Website series.

Six up-and-coming online marketing experts were recently interviews for a series of audio blog posts at Website Blueprint. The interviews covered over 50 questions most frequently asked by small business owners and entrepreneurs. It’s now available free (on this very page) as the Website Blueprint Online Marketing Audio Series. Take a listen to the interviews below.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) 101
Craig Fifield of www.craigfifield.com discusses simple way to get your website to appear higher in Google.

Local SEO 101
Jon Rognerud of www.chaosmap.com discusses ways to be appear in Google’s local search results.

Email Marketing 101
Justin Premick of www.aweber.com discusses how to get started with email marketing.

Social Media 101
Laura Roeder of www.lauraroeder.com discusses which social media networks may be the best match for your business.

Business Blogging 101
Wendy Maynard of www.mavendiary.com discusses why a blog is so important for small businesses web sites.

Online & SEO Copywriting 101
Erika Napoletano of www.redheadwriting.com discusses how website wording can persuade visitors (and Google).

Interviews were conducted by award-winning website consultant, Gregg Murray. Gregg Murray is a website strategy blogger for AllBusiness.com, a website marketing contributor to The State Journal, and author of Website Blueprint: The Beginners Guide for Small Business Owners.