New to SEO. How do I set up a 301 Redirect? What Else should I do?

[bronxpad]

Hello,

I am new to web design. I designed my own site using dreamweaver and did all my seo on my own, I read a few books. Long story short I rank on the bottom of page 1 just after 3 months and the keywords are highly competitive. Now, I am up against some heavy hitters from national brands versus my local real estate site.

I don't have a 301 redirect, and am not sure what else I should be doing to get my site ranked higher. I have back links from various sites, ( non-paid ) so it's what others call white hat.

When I grade my site on website grader I get a great score versus the sites that are higher than me. I'm guessing my sites age is an issue.

I guess I'm looking for some guidance.

Thank you all,

Here is my site to view.

http://www.bronxpad.com

[Cruise77]

Without knowing your setup its hard to say whats best to do since there is many ways to do a 301. However an easy way is to use htaccess ( if your server support this ) but most of them does.

More info how to do a 301 with htaccess can be found here

[bronxpad]

Thanks, I'll research it. I use Yahoo as my host company, so I'm sure they have htaccess.

[Francisco_Meza]

Here, read this: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

Print it and go to Starbucks.

Oh, one other thing. To make things faster in web development, I have a design made in PSD and then have it coded into WordPress.  That way I don't have to mess with Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is fine, but not when I'm working on sites that I expect to grow. With WordPress (and many CMS'), it automatically 301s old pages. If not, then there's a plugin.

[bronxpad]

Ok, I have yahoo as my host. I can't seem to find the htaccess. Any ideas?

[Francisco_Meza]

You will be limited to whatever Yahoo allows you to do. They aren't that flexible. Think about it this way. Have you ever heard of a large company use Yahoo? If you keep hanging around in these forums, you will outgrow Yahoo really quick.

[bronxpad]

WHich hosting company do you prefer?

[Francisco_Meza]

I use Dreamhost, Amazon Cloud (AWS) and Rackspace. Nearly all the stuff you'll need can be done on Dreamhost. Dreamhost is a good web hosting company.