As e-retailers strive to improve their rankings in natural search results, they can quickly feel overwhelmed and wonder how and where to get started with search engine optimization. With so many ways to optimize content, just choosing which words to emphasize can slow down the process, leaving a marketer or retailer out of the top search results.

But the task doesn’t have to be overwhelming, says Brad Beiter, vice president of SEO strategy and growth for Performics Inc., a search marketing firm. Beiter and Jon Beals,  associate web manager for web experience at Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., will walk retailers through a step-by-step approach to effective SEO at the Internet Retailer Web Design & Usability Conference in Orlando, FL, next month in a session entitled “5 ways to prioritize SEO—what to do first, and why” during IRWD’s Search Engine Optimization Day on Feb. 11.

“We’ll be discussing how to start off on the right foot in the sometimes daunting world of SEO,” Beiter says. “And we’ll be highlighting a five-step methodology to insure that you are setting the correct goals, aligning the right resources, and planning your SEO project in a way to ensure long-term success.”

In the session, attendees will learn how to earn early results from SEO while also building strong natural search rankings over the long term. Beiter and Beals will also explain how optimizing content for natural search on one page also affects all other pages in a web site.

The editors of Internet Retailer asked Beiter and Beals to speak because of their extensive backgrounds in SEO as well as their overall experience in web site operations and Internet marketing. As vice president at Performics, Beiter is responsible for customer search services and content delivery. He joined Performics in 2005 as a senior strategist for paid search marketing and then became director of SEO, leading a team of 12 SEO consultants. Prior to Performics, Beiter co-founded Startport.com, an e-commerce site focusing on space exploration that was acquired in 2000 by Space.com.

Beals, as user experience manager at Progressive Casualy Insurance, focuses on SEO, optimizing site conversion rates and managing the day-to-day operations of Progressive’s consumer-facing web sites. He joined Progressive in 2001 and has more than 12 years of experience in designing, building and managing web sites.