SEO Checklist

Check for the following before declaring your Website as Complete.

HTML Coding/Development

* Do add brief descriptions to the alt attribute of image tags. The attribute should describe the image, not be a summary of the article.
* Do use H1, h3, and H3 for titles and headings.
* Do create a relevant HTML title for every page. Using the actual article title that appears in the page is a good idea.
* Do use style sheets as much as possible to keep the page size low.
* Do use brief and relevant meta tags (keywords and descriptions) to provide a backup for the description that appears in search engine listings.
* Don't fill the meta tags with words that don't appear in the content of the page. The exception to this is to put common misspellings in the meta tags.
* Don't repeat meta tag content on every page. The content should be specific to the page.
* Do create separate sites rather than making a site a sub-site of a larger one.
* Do not make every visit to a URL unique by appending a session ID or something similar.
* Do create a site map. This is as much for users as for search engines as it can serve as a gateway to deep content.
* Don't link to redirects. Better to link directly to the destination page.

Images, Flash, Video

* Don't create images that contain only text i.e. if an image contains just text, consider using HTML instead.
* Don't put content in Flash movies. Better to have the content outside of the Flash and in the HTML.
* Do provide a transcript for video or audio interviews.

Copy and Content

* Do create a title that uses words that describe the main theme of the article.
* Do use headings and sub-headings that describe the main theme of the copy that follows.
* Don't automatically swap out repeated words and phrases in favor of less common words and phrases.
* Do post all content on the web site including newsletters.
* Do keep all special content such as Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving specials on-line.
* Don't use pop-up windows for content. If pop-ups are necessary, provide an alternative link to the same page that isn't a pop-up.
* Don't remove content from a web site.
* Do make sure all content, in particular old content, has a link pointing to it. Use a site map or archive list page if necessary.
* Do allow search engines to view forum discussions. This is free content.
* Do update content as often as possible. Search engines like frequently updated sites and will visit more frequently.
* Don't worry about writing articles that are too long. The longer the better when it comes to SEO.

Links

* Do use link text that is relevant to the destination page.
* Don't create links that read "click here" or "read more".
* Don't create links out of entire sentences.
* Don't fill the page footer with links to other sites. Better to keep the list short.
* Do cross-link between pages in the web site.
* Do link to external sites.
* Do encourage external sites to link to specific content. Many sites are open to sharing links.

Tools

* Need help deciding which words or phrases are more commonly searched for? Try this site: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/. The higher the number for a word, the more common the search.
* Need help deciding which words or phrases are most common on existing web sites? Try a search at http://www.google.com and the total result count at the top of the page.
* To perform a more thorough analysis of search behavior, try http://www.wordtracker.com (there is a fee).
* To see what other site owners are talking about, visit http://www.webmasterworld.com (some discussions are free to read, others require a donation).


Resource: http://www.allthingssem.com/seo-checklist/

Increase your Page Rank.

• Directory submission - There are a number of free directories available on the internet where you can submit your links. A common example is http://www.dmoz.org
  

• Paid links - There are a number of paid directories and related sites that sell links. But it is suggested to be selective to avoid loosing the already earned page rank.
  

• Forum signatures : Sign up in related forum & create your signature. Every time you participate in forum you will be able to submit a link with your forum past through Forum signatures.
  

• Blog comments: Blog comments with your signature are a very effective techniques of quality link building. But you should not forget to check the "no follow" tag. This tag will make your comment invalid in SEO point of view.

• Link exchanges: Link exchanges is more effective when done with very selective sites. Otherwise it may harm your hard earned page rank. Better to avoid this technique if you cannot do it efficiently.

• Article submissions : Yet another effect quality link building technique. Create a high page rank article submission database before starting your submission.

• Link bait: Link bait is a very effective method to page rank. It is a content on your site where other sites want to link to not because you asked them but because they wished.

• Social bookmarking is another effective page rank enhancing technique. Example www.delicious.com

How do WE get traffic?

Here are some important tips of directing web traffic to your website..

1. Develop some sensible content for your web page you are promoting: I cannot express enough how important it is to give your site visitors value and, to do so, you must give them useful content, preferably original content. This is true of all web sites but particularly true for the blogger who really has to work hard at adding new content on a regular basis. Good content is vital for a number of reasons but there are two that stand out. First, search engines like useful content and the more you have, the higher your organic search results are likely to be and the more free traffic you're likely to get. Second, if you provide useful content (especially with new content provided on a regular basis) you will get more repeat visitors and more external links to your site, the latter again being of vital importance to good organic search rankings.

2. Submit your website. You can gain a lot of traffic from submitting your site to relevant web directories, and, of course, search engines (I think that goes without saying . . . at least, I hope it does!). From my experience, creating an RSS feed (particularly relevant to blogs) and having it submitted to sites such as technorati and other similar services is a particularly good way of generating traffic and simply becoming "visible."

For further ideas, I recommend that you read the article "Sometimes Google AdWords is the least effective way to reach your target customer." This interesting article, by Perry Marshall, contains a great list of methods to obtain new customers for your online business, as well as explaining why AdWords is sometimes the worst option!

I hope this article (as a whole!) has given you some pointers to ensure that you're not neglecting some vital areas of your Internet marketing and has inspired you to think for yourselves how you may be missing out on some vital customers and, even more importantly, profit!

as taken from http://www.moneyties.net/holistic-approach-to-internet-marketing.php