Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with Wordpress is a breeze! While it used to take search engines weeks to spider and pick up new stories on an html Web site, SEO on Wordpress takes just a matter of minutes, using a selection of free plugins for Wordpress and online services. Here’s how:

1. All in One SEO Pack is brilliant! Just loadload it to your desktop, FTP to the Plugins folder on your Wordpress site, signin to your site, click Plugins and Active it. Then, click Settings and All in One SEO (see screenshot to the right of BoomerCafé, the online magazine for baby boomers, as an example). Enter the title of your site, description and up to about 18 keywords. Click Update, and that’s it! Each time you post to your Wordpress blog, All in One SEO goes into action and alerts search engines within minutes.
2. Google Analytics. Set up a free account for your site. It’s really easy and can be done in a few minutes. Google’s directions are very clear.
3. Google Analytics for Wordpress plugin. This is a failsafe method of tapping Google on the shoulder each time you post to your blog. The plugin is very easy to install but will need the “UA-XXXXXX” number that Google Analytics assigns to your site (see #2).
4. Feedburner. I love all the free features of Feedburner. But mainly, it’s a powerful and effective way to alerting not only subcribers to your site but search engines to each new posting.
5. Technorati. I am not a big user of Technorati but having a free account there for your blog doesn’t hurt. Besides, it’s another place to post keywords. Quite frankly, though, we live in a Google world where Google will be the big dog on the block for some time into the future.

The main point is that Search Engine Optimization has entered an exciting new and far more powerful world with the great tools available to Wordpress bloggers. The result, I believe, will be a competitive edge for any Wordpress user.