SEO and Internet Marketing keep resurfacing as hot topics and burning questions. Every time a client launches a new web site, he wants the world to beat a path to his [virtual] door and spend prodigious amounts of money on unarguably superior products and services. That seems reasonable to me. We all want to retire to that personal haven and live in the style to which we want to become accustomed!

Being human, we get bored and we want something to do while waiting for the deluge of web site visitors bearing cash. Many web site owners decide to spend that waiting-time actively encouraging people to visit their web sites, which brings us back to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Internet Marketing. I do not particularly like the term SEO, which subliminally encourages you to optimize your site for Google and not for your customers. Remember: people spend money at your store; Google doesn’t.

Since the primary goal of your web site is to inform people or to persuade people to spend money, it makes sense to build a site which people will find attractive and useful. That’s it; my whole SEO spiel in a sentence.

But how, specifically, do you build a site which people like, which people will use, and at which people will spend money?

• Create clean, easy to read pages. Not too much text, not too little text; make it “just right.” How much text depends on your products. Obviously, it takes more text to explain a complex consulting service than a balsa wood toy airplane. Similarly, the adult shopping for the consulting service has more attention span than the child who wants the airplane.
• Use a sensible number of pictures and label them appropriately. Some people cannot see and they still surf the web (and your site) so put “alt tags” on your photos so that these people can still understand what you are selling. Similarly, if the picture is the headline on the page, the “alt tag” will let the page be read sensibly by someone who skips the images.
• Make the site easy to navigate. Remember that people want to find stuff. You may be enamored with the whiz-bang solar-powered search and quantum navigation but, in the end, pick tools which actually help your target audience.

Don’t stress overmuch about friendly URLs and meta tags. Sure, those things help and in some contexts they can make differences. But first and foremost, focus on content.

When your site is ready for people (notice that I did not write, “When your site is done”), you will face the problem of how to attract visitors to your site. This is the place where Google and the other search engines fit into the puzzle. They can be powerful tools for getting your site noticed by potential customers. I suggest that you focus on Google for two reasons. First, Google is very open about how to get your site well positioned on their search results pages. Second, because Google has the lion’s share of the search market.

Google is strongly biased toward two factors so it makes sense for you to focus on them, too:

1. Content. Make it human-friendly. See the previous several paragraphs of this article.
2. In-bound links. Get links to your site on other web sites with sane content. Skip the link farms (“1,000 links to your site for just $9.95!”); they will hurt you more than help you.

Be creative in placing your links.

• If you sell kitchen cabinets, you might participate in forums where people discuss home remodeling projects. Put a link to your site in your signature block so that it appears in every message. Don’t spam the site with advertisements; just be there as an authentic person.
• Swap links with other web site owners you know; do some co-marketing. If you sell scrapbooking supplies, get together with a friend who sells rubber stamps or other craftwork.
• Get listed in good directories which are moderated by real human beings and are well categorized. Skip the link farms with zillions of random links.

The Google Webmaster Central blog has a ton of good info, such as this recent article on Quality Links to Your Site. That can be a great place to begin learning more.

I want to leave you with a very important final thought: The ideas that I presented here are not technical or difficult. They are labor-intensive. You can do this stuff yourself even if you do not have specialized training. Be prepared for a long-term project, though; none of these things will bring instant results. Anyone who promises instant results, or who promises any specific results at all, is not being honest with you. Caveat emptor.