The S.E.O. Quest

Whoever came up with the adage "You cannot teach an old dog new tricks" clearly was not referring to me. To begin with, i am not old, neither am i a dog. In terms of technological advancement adoption, i have noticed that the younger generation is more adept. It actually extends to more than just technology, i have no idea what Chris Brown's latest offering is called, for example, but i'm positive my 18 year old sister knows all the collaborations on it. We just have to face it, as we grow older, priorities change and certain things become obsolete. In the dynamic age we live in however, we cannot sit back and allow EVERYTHING to evolve around us, for like dinosaurs (Lets pretend they once existed), we will surely become extinct. I personally seek to challenge my mind, adapt, acquire new information continuously so as not to be left behind.

Search Engine Optimization is basically a foreign ideology to me. Don't get me wrong, i do know WHAT it is and what it entails but the "How Tos" of SEO evade me. I became a Web Developer in 2011. That is when i learnt the art of maneuvering around the Wordpress Dashboard, fumble around with words and pictures, and come up with some Interface that resembles something that looks like a "website". Well, iv come a long way from that young man who experimented on websites. Despite never having studied this very interesting subject, i have become relatively acquainted with HTML, CSS, PHP etc. and understand the basics thereof. For the past 4 years, S.E.O. simply meant submitting my URL to attracta and within 72 hours,voila, my website appears on organic search results, then later posting a few articles linking to my site!

It wasn't until i got this client who expected a lot more from his website that i realized i had to put the work in.

Over the course of the next 6 MONTHS i shall be working on promoting Wild Trekkers Lodge, Victoria Falls' website and this being my first hand at advanced Search Engine Optimization, i have decided to detail my journey on my blog so that newbies quite like myself may find it easier to do the same on their own. The 6 month point is not the finish line, it is merely the minimum amount of time required to dedicate to this campaign. I call myself a newbie but take note, i do have the necessary information and experience to commence an SEO campaign and it is in that capacity that i shall detail my quest to promote http://www.wildtrekkerslodge.com and i shall be updating this blog as i conduct the work, beginning on the 26th of May 2015.

If you google "Wild Trekkers" this very moment, the website i am promoting will appear on the first page on the second organic result, but if you google, "lodge accomodation in Victoria Falls", the site does not even appear in the first 10 pages. For the basic ranking that i have on google, here is the work i had done so far:

1. Created a site map using XML Sitemaps, a free online generator. Click here to create a free sitemap
2. Accessed my google webmaster account which is linked to my gmail account, added the new site to my existing list, then added the XML sitemap i had downloaded. You can sign in here using your own gmail login credentials
3. Opened my existing Attracta account and followed the steps for SEO after adding my URL. Click here to create your own Attracta account

Much like how its impossible to make a celebrity overnight, it is also not possible to hurriedly get the best rankings in say 1 week, and neither is it possible to get on google in 1 day. Any company, organization, or individual who offers any such services especially at low cost is a scam artist. They will probably use "black hat" techniques which will probably result in your website being blacklisted on google and that will cost you a whole lot more in the end.

Follow my blog and get constant updates on how i conduct "white hat" seo over a 6 month period

P.S. Advanced S.E.O. is not for everybody. Do not underestimate the work and knowledge it takes to successfully embark on an seo campaign.