SEO Step One - The Website Optimization Starting Point

“Fail to plan and your plan will fail” a very wise saying that holds true in life as well as in search engine optimization. 

The very first step in the SEO process is to define the purpose for optimizing your website and establish your plan. You must first identify the purpose of your website and what you want your website to do, in order to make improvements on how well your site performs.

Here is an important list of items to consider when you begin the SEO process of optimizing a website

What is the function and purpose of your website?

Is your website for e-commerce sales, lead generation, a communication tool, educational resource, brand management, or reputation management, etc.

What do you want visitors to do on your website? 

Do you want visitors to purchase products on your website, provide lead contact information, or sign up to receive additional information about your product /services, or share your site and information with others as a source of credible information etc.

What is your goal for improving website performance?

Take into consideration the purpose of your website, and think about what you like to achieve and what your website does currently.  Based on your findings, create what you believe is a realistic goal to strive towards. For example:

Sell X number of products / month
Collect X number of quality leads /month
Sign up X number of subscribers /month

In summary -

Taking the time to clearly think about what you want your website to do then outlining realistic goals is the first step to search engine optimization.  Once you define the purpose of your website and goals for optimizing your site you can begin to plan how you will meet your goals. Read SEO Step Two to learn what you need to do next in the SEO process.