This is the third installment in our series on the basics of SEO. In this article, you’ll learn how to manage an SEO program in 60 minutes a day.
Search engine optimization is a long-term commitment. It can also be time consuming and labor intensive. So you should make every effort to streamline the process. You must incorporate it into your daily or weekly routine.
There are many ways to tackle the “beast” that is search engine optimization. One way is to create a daily schedule that accomplishes various tasks in round-robin fashion. Here’s how you might go about it.
1. Review Website Analytics
Spend some time each day looking at your website analytics program. You can use much of this data to shape and improve your SEO efforts going forward. Are you seeing a rise in traffic to a particular page or blog post you published recently? If so, you might be able to expand on that topic for even more traffic and exposure. What about your keyword searches? Which search phrases are generating the most traffic? This may be an area worth exploring, as you expand your content.
Time spent: 10 – 15 minutes a day
2. Write Web Content
Website content is the centerpiece of a search engine optimization campaign. Content can take many different forms. It might include articles, videos, or downloadable resources. Whatever form it takes, it has the power to make or break an SEO campaign. So the bulk of your time should be spent developing new content and improving your existing content.
I’ve suggested 30 – 40 minutes a day for content development. That’s based on a 60 – 90 minute cycle of SEO tasks. If you can dedicate two hours a day to your SEO program, just double the times listed under each of these tasks. Or keep the other times as they are and triple the time you spend on content development. It warrants the extra time and attention.
Time spent: 30 – 40 minutes a day
3. Seek New Link Opportunities
Link building is the act of acquiring links from other websites in order to boost your search engine ranking. It’s also an important part of any SEO schedule. Every week, you should make time to seek out new opportunities for links.
You can acquire links passively by offering high-quality content (see task #2 above). You can also be proactive about getting links. Proactive link-building techniques include writing guest articles on other websites with a link back to your site, and promoting your content to a specific audience.
Link building is an ongoing task. It is never truly finished, no more than marketing in general is ever finished. If you don’t have the patience or persistence to see it through, you might want to enlist the support of a reputable link-building company. It will be one less item on your SEO task list. That alone makes it worth considering.
Time spent: 10 – 15 minutes a day
4. Read and Research
Savvy webmasters keep up with the latest trends, tips and techniques from the SEO world. If you’re serious about your online success, you will do the same. Set aside some time each day for reading and research. This will help you in several ways:
- You’ll increase your working knowledge of search engine optimization.
- You’ll identify new tools and techniques that can help in your SEO efforts.
- You’ll stay abreast of changes to the search engines themselves, such as the never-ending algorithm updates they announce from time to time.
We offer a wealth of usable information on this website. So be sure to check back often during the course of your research. You should also include SearchEngineLand.com in your reading list. It’s one of the oldest and most useful information sources within the SEO field.
Time spent: 10 – 15 minutes a day
Alternate Strategy: One Day for Each Task
I’ve listed these tasks sequentially to show how you could do them in 60 – 90 minutes a day. But you could just as easily dedicate an entire day to each task. Here’s an example of what the first part of your week may look like with this approach:
- Monday: Research — Spend an hour or more reviewing your website analytics program. Make notes about your findings. Write down any new content ideas that come to mind. Visit your favorite SEO websites to see what news and tips they are offering.
- Tuesday: Writing — Spend an hour or more writing new content for your website, based on Monday’s research.
- Wednesday: Link Building — Identify bloggers, journalists and publishers who cover your industry or niche. Promote your best content to these people. Offer to write guest articles or blog posts for other websites, with a link to your site included in the author’s note.
SEO can be a daunting experience, to say the least. Breaking out tasks and spending at least 60 minutes a day will make an SEO project more digestible and attainable. Some people like to rotate through a series of tasks on a daily basis. Others prefer to focus on a single task for an extended period of time. When it comes to SEO, you can take either approach, as long as the work gets done.
