Can I do SEO on my own? There is a lot of people who say they can master SEO on their own and become one of the best SEO gurus in the world. But most of them fail because they did not put in enough effort and time to learn the proper ways to optimize their websites. And the main reason for their failure is because they will commit the same mistakes over again.
One of the biggest mistakes people make is to copy what other SEO experts are doing. Do not try to reinvent the wheel when there are already so many SEO gurus already doing the same thing. You cannot expect to have great results just because you copy what other experts are doing. What you need to do instead is to identify what are the common keywords being used by your target market and focus on those keywords. Then you should optimize your website for the keywords.
Another mistake is to do keyword research manually. Doing manual keyword research is very impractical because most SEO experts already know what their potential keywords are and you should not do the same. The practical point here is to use on-page optimization techniques. On-page optimization is more effective in bringing in organic traffic compared to off-page methods like link building and article submission.
One mistake some people often do is to submit their articles and content to thousands of article directories without analyzing which ones have high search volume. You have to analyze your competition before you submit your articles because you might be missing an excellent opportunity if you submit your content to popular directories such as EzineArticles, HubPages, and KnowHow. One useful tool to determine the search volume of your target keywords is the free Google Toolbar. With this tool, you can see the search volume ranking of the various keywords you choose.
Another practical point when doing off-page optimization is to make sure your website has all the necessary internal and external links that can bring it to the top of the search engines. There are two main types of linking – internal and external. Internal linking refers to connections that direct visitors from the homepage of your site to any of its subdomains; while external links point to any web page or landing page of your site that have high search engine ranking.
Some may argue that off-page optimization is not enough to bring up good search results. What they argue is that you need to concentrate more on what the search engines look for and make sure that your content matches the quality standards. This is a valid point but you can take the same optimization approach while also taking care to ensure your site is as user-friendly and accessible as possible. With the right off-page optimization technique coupled with a user-friendly interface, your site will surely score high in search engine results.