New website : SEO approach and strategy

[ShoutOut]

We are a small startup company looking at starting a complaints website in India   having user generated content(complaints) .

Would some one help me to draw overall strategies  on how we can achieve good traffic over one year.  We realise that there is no magic wand to improve positions in search ranking for a site which hosts user generated content esp. since we dont know what key words to target.

In this context i was looking form some expert suggestion on how we can go ahead with the SEO for the next 1 year ..

We are open to paying for the services if you prove that you have the required experience .  Otherwise  any suggestions from other who have experience in such situations  are welcome ...

[PeterAlexLeigh]

It's not as bad as it sounds

[kdaly100]

Thanks Shelly - appreciate the positive feedback!!! Hope I never have to use Blacklisted Loans though....

[PeterAlexLeigh]

Good shout from Kerian. I would definitely recommend giving it a thorough read. I've just re-read it myself and I learnt some new tips once again.

[cfceo]

The previous posts are right on point. The best place to start is with a clear focus of who you are and what your website will be offering others (what is your brand in clear terms). I’d also suggest reading “The Art of SEO”. You’ll learn how to research your competitors to see who’s linking to them and what keywords they are targeting. Keyword research and building a strong link-building strategy will be a critical part to your success. Once you have a strong set of keywords and you have a general idea of who you would like to target for links, you’ll then need to think about what kind of content you can develop to attract the attention of those you need links from.

To be a bit more specific to a site such as yours, it sounds like you are looking to build a website revolving around consumer complaints about products, brands, business, etc. Some likely places to research for keywords might be www.complaints.com or www.complaintsboard.com. Research them (and many other competitors) using SEOmoz’s Competitive Link Finder, Open Site Explorer, or other tools.

A place to work from regarding a link-building strategy may be in the form of a video broadcast that discusses some of the most egregious offenders (complaints) or bad brand PR. You could drive traffic to the site through twitter, facebook, and youTube campaigns to build popularity and interest. It is always important to put yourself in the shoes of your target consumers and try to visualize what they would want to gain from visiting your website and what might initially pull them in (link bait).

Anyway, I hope this helps you on your path to SEO success and if I can be of any further help, let me know.

-Ryan

[evolvingSEO]

Hi

The best place to start isn't far from general good business practices and marketing practices, with just a bit of common sense SEO sprinkled in.

• Define a good solid brand.

• Clearly define your product, and its unique selling proposition - what is it, why is it different? And what are its benefits that will make someone want to use it?

• Then keyword research... what are the non-brand generic terms that people already use to talk about what your product will offer?  Us this page on seomoz to get started with ideas.

• Let your keyword research help dictate your information architecture, navigation, and site architecture. Each page should target 1-3 keywords, with the homepage being your main product keyword.

• Use the beginners guide to SEO and this on-page optimization tool to help optimize each page correctly.

• On launch day you should begin tracking with analytics, webmaster tools and track rankings.

• Then you can start backlinking and social sharing. Use this page for ideas.

...the list goes on, but the MOST IMPORTANT THING is getting your architecture right from the beginning.  Even Matt Cutts himself says if you get architecture right from the beginning you'll save yourself tons of time and aggravation later on.

Good luck!

-Dan

[kdaly100]

Hi

I would recommend starting with this to at least get an appreication for the business of SEO http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

Read the questions and answers here on the forum and spend time looking at the blog posts and Webinars that indeed confirm that there is no magic wand

Update: On re-reading this I also realised that it may have been a bit trite.  The most important thing is that from the beginning you are thinking of it and it is part of your focus.  Make the entire team aware of the importance of this.