An ecommerce startup SEO

[Schnarkle]

I'm biting the bullet and opening a web shop in something I have an interest in. As advised by wise mumsnetters.

I've been reading a bit on this section about SEO and I'm starting to make sense of it.

Would the following be beneficial to me....

Set up web shop with links to facebook, twitter & blog.

Open facebook account of same name and link back to main shop, do same with twitter account. Use these accounts for promoting special offers, sale items, hourly specials etc etc.

Start a blog with same name also and write some entries also basically linking back to my site. For example with recipes, pictures and links back to my site would be the option to buy the items needed to make the cake or what ever.

I've read about writing articles and submitting them as useful SEO, but submit them to where?

Any advice is welcome.

Hi Schnarkle

I would start off by investing some time in some good keyword research. Honestly, it will be time well spent. Once you know your target keywords, you need to optimise your page content (including page titles and writing good meta descriptions). Then, build links to your website from other sites, focusing on related websites that are credible and trusted. Although Facebook/Twitter links are good for generating awareness/traffic, they don't directly improve rankings as their links are 'nofollow'. Diversity is key (I.e. 30 links from your own blog is nowhere near a good as 30 links from different 'high authority' related niche websites).

I would recommend a read of SEOMOZ. They have an excellent guide for beginners SEO. You can also take a free trial of their tools. I also use Market Samurai.

I wouldn't bother with high volume directory submissions either. They don't do anything. Neither do high vol article submissions...

Thanks so much for that Saffra. That seomoz looks interesting, that's my homework for tonight sorted!