Welcome to APSE

Question: What does the term SEO mean to you?

Sure, we all know it stands for search engine optimization but how do you actually go about optimizing your pet sitting website anyway?

The approach we hear most often includes the use of “keywords.”

“Make sure you have your keywords in your title tag” for example, is something I hear a lot.

I then begin to hear about pet sitters who become frustrated that their website is not showing up in the search engines for their own keywords.

While this could be an accurate frustration, more often than not there is usually a piece of the puzzle missing – a big piece of the puzzle.

Keyword research.

I’ve spoken with plenty of pet sitters who’ve admitted to having no real idea as to why they chose a certain keyword to begin with.

It’s sort of like working blindly. You make an assumption about what keywords you think are the best to target without knowing for sure.

And it’s so simple to know for sure.

And it’s all about to get better for you.

Fasten Your SEO Seatbelts

I had the great fortune recently to get on a recorded call with SEO champion Duane Forrester.

(I chose to label him SEO ‘champion’ but he could easily be SEO Guru, Warrior, Sage or Head Honcho.)

Why am I giving Duane such a big intro? Well, for one, he’s employed at Microsoft – as their Senior Program Manager responsible for running their internal SEO program for MSN.

Say Wha?!

Yea, as he explains his job to me in the call:

“Anytime someone does a search online at any of the major search engines, my job is to make sure that MSN.com ranks well. Much like anyone out there who has a blog and wants more traffic, my job is to get more traffic for this big website. No different at all than someone with a small website – exactly the same work, just on a different scale.”

Duane provides a solid hour of information. Push play, give a listen, and read more below…

We released this recording to APSE members a few days ago and the response has been incredible. I, myself, was uber-inspired after the call that I’ve committed to implementing most of the techniques Duane spells out for us.

After listening, feel free to leave your thoughts, comments and additional questions you may have directly for Duane and perhaps we can get him back for more… (no pressure, Duane!).

The Online Marketing Guy’s Credits

Duane Forrester is a Senior Program Manager with Microsoft, running their internal SEO program for MSN. He’s also the founding co-chair of SEMPO’s In-House SEM Committee, is a former Board of Directors member with SEMPO and is the author of How To Make Money With Your Blog & Turn Clicks into Customers. He has almost 12 years of experience across all areas of online marketing, with a focus on search engine optimization and monetizing websites.

Duane also finds time to help as a moderator at www.searchengineforums.com and maintains his own blog at www.theonlinemarketingguy.com. For www.searchengineland.com, Duane’s main focus is on in-house search marketing; both what it takes to manage it, and who folks are in the industry today.

Duane haunts Twitter as @sportsguy.