Hi all,

I joined this forum a while back and because of family commitments had to put my business on hold.

I would like to say that I don't even know where to start in regards to asking about SEO and marketing on the web.

I'm working with a freelancer who is going to create my Christian apparel site using Simple shopping cart for artists, designers, bands, record labels, jewelry, crafters - Big Cartel. He's doing the graphics and coding, SEO. I've worked with this person before as he has created custom designs for my Christian apparel business.

Don't even know where to start...

OK here we go... for a total beginner/newbie what does one need to know in the beginning process of starting online? What direction and the like would you point someone to who is beginning online from scratch with no experience?

Hopefully this will open up a discussion where others will benefit as well.

Take Care,

Marc

mpossoff asks
"What direction and the like would you point someone to who is beginning online from scratch with no experience?"

The first thing you need is an understanding. You are entering an arena where the whole world is competing. A world where everyone will offer you advise and mostly the everyone that offers this advise has not managed to actually succeed in anything other than offer advise. This limited success is invariably due to others gullibility rather than any real knowledge.

You will simply need to keep your feet on the ground and solve the problems you encounter one at a time.

I started from scratch a little over eleven years ago. . I have basically learned 'it is not easy'. . Be as original as you can be. . keep your site honest. and make sure everyone of your users or customers has no hindrances in contacting you.

The web is really about people, it might tempt you into thinking otherwise. but every link that is clicked has someones finger on the mouse.
'aim your site and everything at that person.' this is the best advise I can offer

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Thanks Tubby! Hey Tubby is our younger sons nickname!

OK I'm working with a designer who can design my site and his partner will code it.

In regards to SEO what needs to be done first?

I mean do I get a site built and then XYZ?

What needs to be done prior to getting a site built and launched?

I already have a target audience. Googled and there seems to be not much results and not much competition, whether that's good or bad?

Take Care,

Marc

marc said
'there seems to be not much results and not much competition'

You will still have to struggle for every little bit of traffic.

It is hard to take a guess at what will need to be done first, or even second. . You will need IBL's that is inbound links pointing to your site. . (lots preferred)

Once the site is on line and working, your traffic statistic - will become your steering wheel and windscreen. you will need to sit in the cockpit of your statistics page and learn to read what is happening on your site. Where is the traffic coming from - or is it coming at all. Are users going to the pages they are expected to go to. Are they leaving the site before they have looked. Who is delivering traffic to your door, why. Or why not?

You will probably need to create items of interest to your targeted users and post them where they can promote your items and/or deliver another IBL.

you might even post your site here (WPWorld )and get a site review. . see if WPW members can pick out a few things that will help.

It is a plod, plod, plod, process, you merely need to keep plodding in the right direction. There is lots of stories about making a killing on the net. . Do not believe them. . It is a lot of work. . But . . . . You can do it from your lounge room.

No need to worry about the technical stuff yet. . You will simply have to back your choice of designer and programmer. (you chose them) They are going to make mistakes. . mistakes can be fixed over time. . And if you do not know it already, you will be using up a lot of time..

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It's true that you will largely have to trust your designer/developer to do things the right way for you, but it also helps to be able to speak with them regarding the direction you want to take. And that requires having a pretty clear idea of the direction you want to take. It really helps if you have a plan for the way a user will navigate through your site. How do you want to organize your products? What kinds of categories will there be? What kind of content will you present to your visitors on your front page (some sort of welcome? a news update? an assortment of products? etc.) All these things will help you ensure that your website is built exactly how you want it, and more importantly, it needs to be easily usable by your visitors.

Research.

I would start by researching the basics of SEO, so that you can double check your experts, and be a partial member of the SEO team. Mostly so that wool isn't pulled over your eyes.

There's a lot of advice out there on SEO, and a lot of it is just plain wrong.

While your site is being developed, remember who you want to view and judge your site.... visitors and paying customers.

Design the site with customers in mind first. Give them great content, and label everything (images, links, etc). Also, give each page a proper title.

The above may seem like common sense, but a majority of sites I look at don't even try those basic things... BTW, these "basic" things I'm talking about, are considered by some SEO experts as a "secret" to their business.

While working on the design, there are a few on page things to consider, but stick with the common sense, and your site will be mostly fine, and ready for tweaking/testing in the future.

Once done, you'll need more IBL (inbound links / back links) to your site.. that's where off-page SEO comes into play.

Hope that helps a bit - Try Dan Theises SEO Fast Start book.... it's a great 100 page read of pure content, no fluff, and it's free.

Matt

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Hi Guys can you please tell me the difference between a crawler and a index

You really does't need that long tail keyword to pointing us to bigcartel.com and for those who had same question and need some help Tubby did a great job.

http://www.webproworld.com/seo-101/87084-very-new.html

I would start with reading Aaron Wall's blog, and book.

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I would suggest doing your keyword research and then making sure the title and meta tags are populated properly and not spammy, with your keywords. then make sure you have headings on your pages with your keywords in them...(h1, h2, h3) tags...

then submit your URL to us after those changes/additions have been done and we'll help you evaluate your site...and help you along the way...on page seo work is very easy...then we could guide you in off-page seo work.

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Since it sounds as though you are just starting the process, you have an advantage over some people. Proper site design/build structure and on-page SEO go hand-in-hand. If the builder you're using is properly prepared to not only build your site, but also provide SEO, then he should be able to take SEO into consideration during the construction phase. That will smooth the process tremendously, in my experience.

As has already been said, everybody and his uncle is willing to offer SEO advice, and most of it is either totally wrong, or out of date. A forum like WPW is a great place to learn the basics, in order to help you wade through some of the BS. But a forum is made up of individuals, each stating their opinion, and many of them will be wrong as well. Take everything with a grain of salt, until you have verified it's accurate. Then double check it...it may have changed.

Since you stated that a "freelancer" is doing your graphics, coding and SEO, I have to ask... is he a "Professional" free-lancer, or is he just a friend that has managed to learn a little by playing around with it, and seems to have a knack for it? There really is a big difference. My youngest daughter taught herself how to put together a website when she was thirteen, but it would probably still be on the last page of the SERPs, if she hadn't let her hosting expire.

It hasn't been that long ago that I was in the same position you are in - knowing far too little about what I was getting into. I would suggest you spend some time here, reading threads on the SEO 101 and Search Engine Optimization forums. You'll soon get a feel for those that really know (and can substantiate) what they're talking about. Many post links to support their statements. Follow those links, and read the articles or watch the videos, and you'll find you'll learn a lot. SEO is a very volatile industry, because we're dealing with several different search engines, each with its own criteria, and each making periodic changes to those criteria. Nothing stays stable very long.

Build your site for your customers, taking SEO into consideration... not the other way around... and you'll eventually find the success you're looking for. Good luck to you... hope to see you around here!

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Designers are notorious for claiming to know about and practice SEO as part of their design, but rarely deliver an SEO friendly result. They simply know a few buzz words and market themselves as SEO knowledgeable because they know most people looking to have a site designed know that SEO is important.

I would suggest you get the basics of SEO down so that you can at least ask intelligent questions of your web designer or call BS when he starts blowing smoke up your b#tt. Perhaps reading this post will help you with the process of learning search engine optimization.

Hi mpossoff
welcome here at the largest webmaster community. learn and enjoy here

I have quote this
Forget about SEO before we actually create the value to our visitors.

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