Optimize for the searcher, not the search engine. Focus on your customers, not on the technology.

It is incredibly important to get found when your customers search. However, it is even more important for your customers to find what they are looking for. And it is equally important that when they find what they’re looking for that the content be accurate, up-to-date and easy to understand.

Link: Avoiding search engine optimization madness

For the last three months I have been hard at work learning SEO by optimizing a local small business website. The business is called Giggly Wiggly Preschool and is located in the Seattle suburb Issaquah, Washington. This Issaquah Preschool was the preschool I attended many years ago, so I am happy I was given the chance to give back to it. Optimizing for local search is a great way to learn SEO because there is less competition and it is easier to maintain a small and focused scope. It has been a slow process but has taught me a lot. The following is a checklist of all the tasks that have been necessary for me to generate great results. My hope is that this list can be used by inexperienced SEOs who are looking to learn the trade. (As a bonus, I have included checkboxes so you can print this and complete it in your spare time.)

Link: The Beginner’s Checklist for Small Business SEO

If you want your site to show up prominently in search engines like Google, your website content management system can help – but not all CMSs are created equal. We suggest the features to look for to help with search engine optimization.

Link: Eight Ways a CMS Can Help with Search Engine Optimization

Does your organization show up on the first page of results in search engines like Google or Yahoo? The content and structure of your website can have a dramatic effect on how easily potential constituents can find you via search engines. This article explains how.

Link: 10 Steps to Being Found on Search Engines

Check out Idealware’s great “Consumer-Reports-style” articles on databases, websites, email and advocacy, and office productivity. They also offer for a very reasonable price online seminars on how to select software for your organization.