The Most Awesome collection of SEO and intro posts - for newbies and veterans

A year and half ago, I had no idea what Active Rain was nor what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) meant.  On July 3rd 2010, I wrote my first blog and a few days later became a Rainmaker.  Things has slowed down for me that July 4th weekend, and while I needed to sell more jobs, of course everyone was away, so I couldn't make any appointments and I figured it would be rude to call custoners that weekend...so, what else could I do to somehow be productive.

So, I came to Active Rain...and I spent the whole weekend reading and learning.  Since then, I have been an avid learner, or a sponge (in a good way).  Now, thanks to Active Rain, the combo of my blogging/website/internet presence, this is now my LARGEST source of business.  (It had pretty much been non-existent up to that point.).

So, where to start???  Well first, and foremost, subscribe to Katerina Gasset and read the first link below where she provides a comprehensive overview of what SEO means and how to do it.  This is a series of 5 posts and it is written for people like you and me...people that run a business and need to learn SEO in laymen's terms.  Once you have the basic undestanding of how it conceptually works, you will GET IT. Then, you will understand how to start implementing. Then, you can build on your knowledge base, so everything else will make sense.

Below is a collection of posts that I've found very helpful over the last year and half.  I have reblogged most of these to share the knowledge, but now for the first time, I've collected them all in one place.  This post is chock full of info...and you can't read it all at once.  (and don't even try to).  Instead, bookmark it (tip for newbies: at the bottom of the post there is a place where it says "bookmark" and then it will be saved here on Active Rain.  Then, when you are ready, come back to it by going to your home page and selecting "blog bookmarks" on the bottom left.

There are so many knowledgeable SEO people here.  There are too many to name and I'm almost afraid that if I start to do that, that someone will get mad at me for not including them.  But, another, must subscribe to for newbies is Tammy Emineth.  She writes in an easy to understand approach so it's easy for those are new to SEO.  There are so many others here that are wonderful. 

SEO is critical to making blogging work for you...so learn it!  It will make you so much more effective and efficient.

So below is a series of wonderful posts...it will help if you are new at this or a veteran.  Hopefully, there is some new info here for eveyone.

SEO overview and techniques

SEO overview - Coming to a monitor near you (series of 5 posts starting with the basics) - Katerina Gasset

Organic traffic - There are only ten spots on page one on google - Katerina Gasset

How to write a good blog post for customers and search engines - Brad Andersohn

Important places to get listed on –directories, profile pages, etc

60 places to for your web profile - Eleanor Thorne

How many of these places are you on - Hubspot top 50 directories - Tom Arstingstall

 

Getting started on Active Rain

How to get started on Active Rain - Active Rain staff

How to complete your Active Rain profile - Part II - Active Rain staff

How to complete your Active Rain settings page - Active Rain staff

Tips about your Active Rain Settings Page - Active Rain staff

The Active Rain point system - Active Rain staff

Active Rain 101 - A wealth of tips for newbies and veterans alike - Jason Crouch

Everything you ever wanted to know about Active Rain - The Active Rain manual - Carla Muss Jacobs

 

Optimizing your active rain profile

Newbies - Why you should optimize your active rain profile for better SEO results - Chuck War

 

Enhancing your blogs w/ maps and videos

Google profiles, places, maps - Why are you not listed on these yet? - Hans Schindhelm

Embedding maps in a post - Missy Caulk

Active Rain Video tutorial - SEO blogging - How to add video to your Active Rain Blog - Katerina Gasset

 

More SEO optimization tactics (more advanced)

 15 Quick SEO tips for real estate bloggers - Justin Smith

SEO Optimization tactics - Victoria Lorusso

The 3 secret companies that really control google local - SEO tips - Brad Carroll

Common SEO mistakes new bloggers make and how to fix them - Lisa Udy

SEO tools you should know about - Brad Andersohn

 

Analyzing your stats on Active Rain

How to use your Active Rain Statistics page - Jason Crouch

Active Rain Statistics and Blog traffic - Brad Andersohn

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