SEO business is increasingly aware of the need to understand and implement at least the basics of search engine optimization. But if you read a variety of SEO business Blogs and Web sites, you'll quickly see that there is much uncertainty about what constitutes "essential." Without access to high-level consultation and without much experience knowing that SEO techniques can be trusted, there are also plenty of misinformation about SEO strategies and techniques.

 Small Business SEO Checklist: The Do’s

1. Commit yourself to the process. SEO isn’t a one-time event. Search engine algorithms change regularly, so the Techniques that worked last year may not work this year. SEO requires a long-term outlook and commitment.

2. Be patient. Search engine optimization is not about instant gratification. Results often take months to see, and this is especially true the smaller you are, and the newer you are to doing business online.

3. Ask a lot of questions when hiring an SEO company. It’s your job to know what kind of Techniques the company uses. Ask for specifics. Ask if there are any risks involved. Then get online yourself and do your own research—about the company, about the Techniques they discussed, and so forth.

4. Become a student of Search Engine Optimization.

 If you are taking the do-it-yourself route, you will have to become a student of Search engine optimization and learn as much as you can. Luckily for you, there are plenty of great Web resources (like SEO-N-CMS) and several terrific books you can read. Aaron Wall’s SEO Book, Jennifer Laycock’s Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing, and Search Engine Optimization: an Hour a Day by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin are three I’ve read and recommend.

5. Have web analytics in place at the beginning. You must have clearly defined goals for your SEO efforts, and you'll need web analytics software in place so you can track what works and what does not.

6. Build a great website. You want to see on the first page of results. Ask yourself: My site is truly one of the top 10 sites in the world on this subject? Be honest. If not, do better.

7. Include a site map page. Spiders can not index pages that can’t be crawled. A site map will help spiders find all the important pages on your site, and help the spider understand your site’s hierarchy. This is especially helpful if your site has a hard-to-crawl navigation menu. If your site is large, make several site map pages. Keep each one to less than 100 links. I tell clients 75 is the max to be safe.