There are entire books devoted to the subject of search engine optimization (SEO) – indeed, I took an 8-module course on SEO earlier in the year which filled an entire ring binder. So this post is an overview to give you the essentials on how to optimize your site’s rankings on Google and other search engines.

There are basically three things that are key when it comes to getting your site optimized for search engines:

1. The number of links that point to your site
2. The keywords you use
3. How often you update your content. Quite simply, the more regularly you update your site or your blog, the more often the search engines will crawl it.

There’s not much more to say regarding point 3, so the focus of the rest of this post is on links and keywords.

Welcome to guest writer, Jo Ann Sweeney, who explains the seven areas where a mentor can make all the difference to our freelance business.

We all need a fresh perspective in our work, someone to help us think laterally beyond what we do day in, day out and provide fresh perspectives.

In almost 20 years as a freelance consultant I’ve met hundreds of people like myself – self-starters, good time managers, high energy, assertive, good at multi-tasking, not afraid to take risks, embrace change, can cope with ambiguity, like being our own boss, the list goes on and on.

What I’ve noticed is that some people establish successful businesses quickly; others take many years.  I’d put myself in the second category. It took six or seven years before I was doing well financially; which was fine because I had young children and wanted to work school hours only.

Are you too busy working day-to-day on client projects to look at the bigger picture?

If so, try to take just 30 minutes out of your hectic schedule today to think about what you really want to achieve.

Go somewhere different – somewhere you can focus your thoughts. Then, turn off your phone and ask yourself the following questions:

1. What would I really love to achieve?

Note that it’s not “What do I think I could achieve?” but “What would I really love to achieve?” So, if you really want to earn £150,000 a year, write that down. Maybe you want to be a best-selling author or to own your own restaurant.

Don’t be constrained in your imagination and don’t get hung up on HOW you’ll achieve it. Just write down WHAT you want to achieve.