Optimizing a website to be a top result in search engines can be one of the cheapest ways to draw traffic, according to Web Marketing Today Editor-in-Chief Ralph Wilson, who spoke at the SES Conference and Expo. However, several SEO strategies must be implemented correctly -- and there are plenty of ways to get them wrong.

Search engine optimization is the least expensive method of getting visitors to a website, Ralph Wilson, founder and editor-in-chief of Web Marketing Today, told the audience at the SES Conference and Expo in San Francisco Tuesday.

In a presentation on SEO basics, Wilson outlined tips on how to get the most out of SEO.

He also mentioned several mistakes commonly made in website design, even by professionals.

No matter how great your product is, or how great your website looks, your online business will be left spinning it’s wheels unless the search engines know you exist… and your potential customers can find you in the search engines!

We wrote on Day One about giving your website a thorough tune-up, and on Day Two about providing great content on your website to keep your visitors and customers coming back again and again.

Now we’re going to give you some tips on snagging more search engine traffic in 2010.

Revisit your keyword research regularly: If it’s been a few months (or a few years!) since you did keyword research on your market, you could be targeting keywords that no one is searching on anymore, and missing out on keywords that would bring great, highly targeted traffic to your website. Things change pretty quickly in the search engines!

We’d suggest that you revisit your research quarterly to make sure that your content and your SEO strategies are taking direct aim at your market.

For years, rumors have circulated that email marketing is dying and teenagers the world over have proclaimed email as, “something old people do”.

Whether you agree or disagree that email has one foot in the grave, many online marketers are finding effective ways to leverage email as part of a social media marketing mix.

Social sharing options embedded in online content have helped increase distribution and reach for thousands of web sites. One of the most common ways email has been used in a social context is “Forward to a Friend”. However, the tried and true ‘Forward to a Friend’ link has less than .1% CTR, so many marketers have taken it upon themselves to find a new way to circulate content amongst networks.

Alternatively, there is the ‘Share to Social’ (S2S) link. While S2S is relatively new, a .5% CTR gives early reason to be optimistic according to a Silverpop study.

The search engine industry frequently innovates as do consumer behaviors for discovery and sharing. Those changes require search marketers to take a fresh look at what search engine optimization (SEO) is and why companies should or should not engage in its practice.

Defining search engine optimization is often focused on the mechanics:
“SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.” (Wikipedia).

Google just announced that the meta keyword and meta description tags of websites have absolutely no bearing on search ranking via their Webmaster Blog. Google’s hand was forced on this announcement, as there are whispers that some lawsuits were arising as a result of companies using competitor’s brand names in meta keywords.

Janet Meiners wrote a good article Monday on Small Biz Trends: Practices of Top SEO Companies for Small Businesses. It’s designed to help small business owners understand the basic/minimum services that an SEO company/consultant should be providing.

But what about the cost of small business SEO? What should a small business expect to pay when hiring an SEO consultant?