Perhaps you have paid someone to build you a beautiful business website and now what? Getting visitors to your site will be the difference between success and failure. Ranking higher on the page in a Search Engine becomes a position to strive for if you want your business to succeed. Research now shows that 80% of people today use a search engine on line to find solutions to their problems. That means they are less likely to go to the Yellow Pages of a phone book.
Search Engines – “Google It” is a verb
The Internet Search engines are quick and easy and get fast results. When a potential client enters the search words in “the box” on the search page of Google.com or Yahoo.com or Bing.com and clicks that web search button to await the results, they are searching for specific information. When you type in specific words you hope the search engine will bring up links to sites that provide the information you need.
The words typed into the “search box” are called “Key Words” by web developers and advertisers – people enter the “key words” into the “search boxes” when searching for answers to problems.
Do you know what key words people are using to find an answer to their problem in your local niche market?
As a business owner with a website, you need to know what people are searching for so your website can provide that specific solution and be found when they search.
There are methods to learn the most frequently used key words being typed into the search box when customers are looking for the solutions your business offers. By completing the research, you or your web person will uncover the key words to use for your website. For this article I am making the assumption you have already completed the research and know the Key Words for your business
Key Words are placed in specific locations within your web site with the hope that the search engines find them, using them in the algorithms that would place you at the “top” of the search results. Key Words used correctly are a significant factor in Search Engine Optimization – SEO.
A warning: As much as you may hear differently – SEO is not an exact science – it is more of an art – and a thorough plan on your part will increase successful results. Google and the other search engines make changes periodically that affect how your website will rank on their pages. Web solution providers and experts understand a lot about SEO and what a website needs to include for SEO to work in a web site’s favor for visibility and a higher page ranking. There are also many SEO factors website owners have little or no control over – for example – your competitor’s web site and how they have integrated the key words etc into their web site.
The whole process of search engine ranking can take time (1 – 3 or more weeks) and is affected by more factors than just those listed in the tips below. In some situations, you will see very quick results and to get those results you need to be following a strategic plan.
Implementing the following 5 tips will give you a great advantage over the majority of the sites considered as your competition!
5 things you can do right now to ensure search engines locate your site and are ranking it where it will be found by searching customers.
TIP 1 Make sure the “Title” on each page uses your exact Key Words for the topic of that page.
This is a task you may want to delegate to your web person. When you open a website on your browser, you will see the TITLE the web designer has assigned to the page in the tab at the top of the page. Having your specific Key Words in your TITLE enriches the SEO much more than having “Welcome” (or a generic term such as “Home”) as the title of your page.
Tip 2 List the specific Key Words in the html for each individual page.
Again this may be something you wish your website manager to complete for you. Within the “Meta” Tags for each individual page with a new topic, include your keywords for the content on that page. Experts say not all the Meta Tags are important for the search engine ranking, however – I always make sure the keywords are in place for each page and a keyword rich description is there as well. It validates the content on the page.
Tip 3 Use the Key Words in the written copy on your page exactly as you have them listed in your Meta Tag
This tip is very important and could be a little tricky so proceed with care. Google and the other search engines can choose to disregard your page if the written copy “abuses” the use of your keywords. To avoid having this happen to you, make sure your copy written includes the Key Words in the best possible “accepted practices” and do not be tempted to over use them.
Tip 4 Provide all the important details for your Local Business on Google (and Yahoo) Local Business maps
This is free and available to every business location. Claim your business and carefully input your description using you local information and your keywords in your description. Link back to your website. Solicit referrals and references from clients. Use the coupon section to add fresh information periodically to keep your site in the front of the crowd of local business competitors.
Tip 5 Provide “link backs” to your site with your signature, articles, blogs and PR
Link-backs – Your website URL link is posted and included in other resources to direct a person back to your site. By using link-backs you can be your best referrer – If people are to find your website it is necessary to tell them what the address is – especially if your website domain name and address is not easy to remember.
• Always include your site address in your email signature.
• Submit articles to article sites
• Submit PR information to the web PR sites
• Exchange links with partner businesses
• Use a blog to post interesting pieces about your business
Getting visitors to our site is a job that is never ending. These 5 tips give you a good jump start and know there is a lot more to do. Update your information frequently – a static website will quickly fall in the page rankings. The internet provides a great opportunity for a Local Small Business to expand their horizons and bring in potential long term clients from outside your immediate neighborhood.
Terry Loving, owner of http://www.Lovingvisions.com provides Internet Marketing and Social Media solutions to Local Small Businesses – taking the “Local” out of Small Business. This information can be found as a downloadable ebook right here on this site. In today’s fast paced world marketing online has become critical for the success of your business. Find solutions to your marketing questions when you visit http://terryloving.com (FaceBook). Invite Terry to talk in your business community and provide Social Marketing Solutions that can be implemented immediately. Let her help you succeed on line today.
