1 Research

1 Research Markets, Competitors and Visitors

2 Analyse and Create Content

3 Create Links and other Indicators of Website Importance

4 Analyse Search Engine, Website Performance and User Changes

For these examples we’ll be using the example of a fictional “Bernie the Clown” and his website http://newyorkclown.wordpress.com/

It’s a small, new website with about ten visitors a day.

Keyword Research

The first step is to research the potential market,and a good way to do this is by using Ignite SEO’s Keyword Research tab.

The keyword research tab can take a keyword you think of, and inform you of its competitiveness and suggest more. You can use these keywords to later create content on your site to bring in visitors.

Competitor Research

Now we have an idea of what people are searching for, and how many, we can start to look at our competitors. A quick look on Google, or within Ignite SEO using the Scrape Tool lists the main competition.

Using the SEO Report tool we can automatically build a profile of the competitors, finding information such as the organic keywords (the queries people typed into search engines) driving traffic and how many people visit their site.

Ranking Factors

You can also track the factors that affect a websites ranking over time. This isn’t an essential step but can give useful insights as you compete for a keyword with competitors over a period of time – allowing you to watch their strategies and copy them if needed.

Next…

So we’ve now had a quick look at our market and competitors. It’s time to have a look at our own site and ensure its ready to be promoted.