Like most students of SEO, I’m continually looking for cutting edge and new marketing technologies. During my continuing search, there are some common themes and ideas that keep popping up whether its from the mind of an expert or the mind of a novice.

I’ve filtered out some of the garbage and and have confirmed some of the ideas that the experts have claimed to be paramount to your online marketing success, added some of my own proven ideas, and have come up with a short list that all TRUE expert SEO’s should know.

1. You Not only Need to Blog, but You Need to have a WordPress blog.

If you entered into the Internet marketing and SEO industry after 2006, you should already know that you need to have a blog. After 2007, then you should know it needs to be a WordPress blog. Forget Blogger, Bloglines, TypePad, or any other platform that your Guru’s recommended. Pro SEO’s, use WordPress.

WP gives you the flexiblity and the ability to dominate Google if used properly. Guess what, “properly” is not a secret. Don’t get all bent because you think only the experts know how to use it “properly.” Relax, with the right plugins and the right social media attack, it’s simple.

2. There is Only One Search Engine, Google.

Yes, there are some individuals who use Yahoo! and Bing (previously Live, previously MSN Search), but honestly, who gives a shit. Google has been the most popular search engine for over 8 years, and is now the most visited site on the web. True SEO’s consider Yahoo! and Bing to be a very far 2nd and 3rd. If you rank well on Google, you’ll eventually rank on Yah-Bing!

3. It Doesn’t Take 3 Months to See Top Results in Google.

Every newb has heard it, and every “guru” has taught it. They say it will take 3 weeks to 3 months to see your website in the search engine results pages (SERP’s). Guess what… that’s bullshit. The next time your mentor, SEO, or consultant tells you this… fire them, they’re worthless.

With a WP blog, the right plugins, and the right knowledge… your new posts can rank on the first page for your keywords within 30 minutes and sometimes alot sooner. I’m not saying that you can go after terms like “home business” with the same results. Obviously these highly competitive terms are more difficult to rank for. But within your specific niche, which is the only one that matters, you can and will do very well.

4. Social Media Marketing will Bring You Immediate Traffic and Exposure.

With the development of socially driven websites, getting highly targeted traffic to your blog is easier than ever. Social news sites like Digg, Mixx, and ShoutWire allow users to vote on the quality of your content. If its valuable, your blog will get voted up, which in turn means more traffic.

The same principle is used with social bookmarking sites like Delicious, MisterWong, and Furl. Web 2.0 has evolved incredibly fast over the last 3 years. Spamming the search engines or your website is not going to work anymore. You actually have to have great content on your blog… imagine that.

5. Every Page on Your Blog Needs to Have a Meta-title and Meta-description.

If you run a WP blog, then the All-in-One-SEO plugin makes entering meta information very easy. When I do a simple Google search, I get a title and description of the 10 most relevant pages related to my search query. The title and description on a SERP are determined by what the webmaster enters into their meta-title and meta-description.

Most SEO’s will agree that the meta-keyword field is obsolete, but the All-in-One-SEO plugin allows you to enter this info as well. No need to overdo it though. There’s a great article about meta-tags over at SearchEngineWatch: How To Use HTML Meta Tags

Related articles:

• Want To Be Found By Bing? (sweetbusinesses.com)
• How to Get More Organic Search Engine Traffic? (earnblogger.com)
• Blogging 101: 5 Tips for Blog Post Titles (techstartups.com)

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Yeah, Blogger, Typepad, and possibly Movable Type are the ones you are most familiar with. Blogger was probably the most powerful blogging platform up until a few years ago. Not anymore.

Let me get in your face for a minute. If you and I start competing within the same market, and I have a WordPress blog while you have a Blogger account… I’m going to embarrass you in the search engines. I will outrank you, I will garner more traffic, and I will invariably make more money than you.

If you do not have a WordPress blog, fear not, it’s NEVER too late. You have two options here. You can create a free WP blog at www.WordPress.com, or you can host your own blog on your own server.

Hosting your own blog will cost an intitial one-time membership fee plus a low monthy fee, about $7.00 per month. I use BlueHost as my web-hosting service. BlueHost has fantastic customer support and will be able to walk you through almost any issues you have. They also have a 1 step process for installing a WordPress blog. They make it very easy for you.

Also, with a web-hosted WP blog, you’ll have greater control over the functionality of your blog. There are these little programs called Plugins that help your blog become a marketing machine. A free WP blog does not support plugins. This is a major disadvantage.

Because you’re serious about your online success, I’m going to assume that you have voted to host your own blog. Now, BlueHost is not the only web-hosting service out there, but it’s the one I use and the only one I can give support on.

A web-host is like having another computer where you store all of your blog files (webpages). But,  this computer (web-host) is always connected to the Internet. This allows for 24/7 access to your website for your readers/customers. If you were to do this on your own computer, you would have to insure against power failures, ISP payments, viruses, and many other limiting factors.

Your very first step is to open a BlueHost account. Once that’s done, you need to carefully select a domain name. You can purchase one at GoDaddy.com. That will cost you less than $10.00 per year. You will be able to transfer that domain to your BlueHost account. Also, 1 domain name is included with your package if you sign up with BlueHost.

Once you’ve done that, look for the article on “Uploading a WordPress Blog to my BlueHost Account.”

If you absolutely cannot afford a web-host, and you want to go with a free blogging platform, then use www.WordPress.com. Do NOT use any other free blogging service. If you’re making love to another service, then it’s time to cheat. This is business… do you want to be faithful, or do you want to dominate?

All pro bloggers and Internet marketers are using WordPress, get with the program…

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