What the heck is SEO?

In the 10+ years that companies have been building and actively using their websites to grow their business, 2008 has dawned as the year that small businesses are finally jumping into the game as real competitors and are no longer on the sidelines letting the big boys get all the action. The internet is truly the level playing field that every small business needs and search engine optimization is the essential tool each business owner should understand and implement on their website. As a small business, how can you play the SEO game and win? First of all, you need a website that works for your visitors and the search engines. This balance provides a user-friendly experience that serves potential customers as well as providing search engines the optimized content they need to index your website and place it at the top of search engine results. This technique, called search engine optimization, is critical and will result in the ultimate goal of having a website that work FOR you – like you’re very own 24-hour sales staff. So what the heck is SEO? The term “search engine optimization” was introduced in 1995 when most websites were still just a spark in a savvy business person’s eye.  “SEO”  is not a science, but as Google offers more tools and more research is conducted into their algorithms, an well-defined organic approach has emerged that will help you position your website and get the rankings you need. Your first step is to analyze your competitors’ websites and determine what is working for them. You can view their source code to see their meta tags and look for their use of important keyword phrases throughout their website. The next step is to use a keyword research tool, such as the free one supplied by Google Adwords or hundreds more commercial versions that you can find by doing a quick web search. This research will be essential in finding the proper keywords that search engines need in order to match your website against the millions of searches conducted each day. This will also allow you to find niche keywords that could bring traffic to your website that might be overlooked on your competitors’ websites. Next, you will need to write new content for your website and your meta tags that are rich in these keyword phrases that you’ve discovered. If you are not a writer, hiring one that is knowledgeable in the use of search engine optimization will be an important investment. Finally, create a Link Popularity campaign. This is a time-consuming process but essential in beating your competitors at the SEO game. Research shows that Google places a greater importance on websites that have high-value incoming links. While this is just a brief overview of the steps you need to take to optimize your website for search engines, there are many experts that can help you. Take the time to learn about these techniques from the vast knowledge-base that is available free on the internet. If you don’t have time to educate and implement these techniques yourself, hiring those who can do it for you will be an investment that is sure to be a home run! 2008-12-13T04:02:11Z