Over the past few years, website SEO has increasingly become a concern for many small business owners. For those managing their own sites and pages, or even those working with a web services company to design and optimize their site, utilizing the following tips will provide a solid foundation to better ensure proper website SEO. 

While SEO blunders can be rectified over time, it's best to avoid the following mistakes from the start:

1. Using Flash: Let's face it, Flash hasn't been cool for some time now, yet many website owners and designers insist on using it. The ugly truth about Flash and SEO is that search engines find it hard to index flash sites. Even having a Flash menu will impede your SEO efforts. If your site requires animations, new advancements in web technology such as JQuery, HTML5, and CSS3 may provide search-friendly alternatives.
2. Spamming Your Visitors: In early 2012, Google released an update called the "page layout algorithm" that penalizes websites with too many ads above the fold (the part of a website that's visible without scrolling). If you're unsure if you have too many advertisements on your site, you can use Google's BrowserSize tool in your Google Analytics account to check. 
3. Page Errors: If you're planning to redesign your site, or move or delete pages, make sure that any and all links pointing to the page are removed or redirected to the correct location, using a 301 redirect. Failure to do so may cost you valuable link juice that has built up over time. Google Webmaster Tools will disclose such site errors. 
4. Poor Load Time: While Google's Matt Cutts reported that, "Fewer than 1% of search queries will change as a result of incorporating site speed into our ranking,"  it is definitely a factor that should be taken seriously. Why? Slow load times directly correlate with poor user experience, and may have a negative effect on your conversion rate. You can check your page speed using Google's PageSpeed Tools or by using one of the many free online tools such as the one offered by Pingdom.
5. Non-relevant URLs: A web page's URL is a very important component of the optimization process. Having a URL that utilizes your target keywords that you want to rank for is an added boost to your all of your other on-site SEO efforts. A strong URL also helps your website's visitors (and search engines) to clearly identify a page.

For an individualized assessment of how you can improve your website's search engine optimization, head over to FissionSEO.com to request your free SEO Audit.