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The main objective for all web sites is greater online presence. There are really only two ways to achieve this. One is to improve your site's rank on major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The other is to use the more traditional, grassroots method of just getting the word out. |
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Search engines are increasingly sophisticated, which is actually good news for search engine users. The responsibility is on you, however, to understand what search engines look for to create their rankings. At one time, all you needed was a good set of keywords embedded in your site for search engine spiders to find and rank. Now search engines like Google don't even bother with keywords.
So what do you need to do to be ranked? The best approach is to develop a web site that is full of content. This may seem obvious, since you want visitors to clearly understand your product or service. Many companies, however, don't take the time to explain their businesses, and instead pummel visitors with fancy graphics and vague tag lines.
Search engines do not know what to do with graphics; they only know how to parse words from your HTML code and determine which are related to your business. That is why it is important that your homepage feature one or two paragraphs of well written text that explains your company thoroughly. Within this text, you should include any relevant keywords.
Here are a few other tips:
1. Make sure to use ALT tags with any site graphics. What are ALT tags? They are the little bits of text information that pop up when you hold your mouse over a graphic. ALT tags describe the graphics and are examined by search engines, so it is a good idea to work your keywords into ALT tags.
2. Place keyword phrases and descriptions within META tags in the HTML source code for your site. Though META tags are not relevant for all search engines, it is worth the one-time effort to set these up. META tags should be located after the <title> tag and before the <body> tag. The description META tag will look like: <meta name="description" content="We are such and such company">. The keyword META tag will look like: <meta name="keyword" content="keyword phrase1, keyword phrase2,...>.
3. Use <h> header tags, rather than the more common <b> bold tag, to emphasize text. Information contained within header tags is given more weight by search engines. There are five levels of <h> tag emphasis, ranging from largest <h1> to the smallest <h5>.
4. Don't ignore the title attribute tags, which enable you to provide more in-depth descriptions of any links in on your web site. These tags are used by the text-to-speech browsers used by the visually impaired.
5. Try to establish as many "link partnerships" as possible. The more your site is linked to by other sites in related fields, the more legitimate your site appears to search engines.
6. Submit your web site to search engines. You can either do this manually or purchase a software program that does this for you. All search engines have different submission policies, so the software program can help you avoid under- or over-submitting your site. If you want to manually submit your site, go to each search engine home page to find specific instructions.
7. Do not try to cheat the search engine system. Examples of cheating include setting up multiple sites that lead to the same web page, and placing keywords "invisibly" on the web page by matching the text color to the background color. Techniques like this, if discovered by search engines, can result in automatic delisting and other penalties.
If all of this seems a bit too complicated or time consuming, you can call an expert. It's best to work with someone you can actually meet or talk to, rather than an Internet-based service that just accepts your credit card and web address. Ask candidates how they plan to optimize your site, and make sure to get the names of web sites that they have already optimized. If a candidate suggests deceptive techniques such as hiding links, using misleading or repeated words, cloaking pages, using redirects and/or creating duplicate sites, move on. You do not want to risk being blacklisted by search engines.
Another approach to gaining web site presence is to use some "old-school" marketing techniques. Put the name of your site on your business card, stationery, and envelopes. Create shirts or hats that feature your web address. Put it on your office window and business signs and include it in any advertisements. Make to include it in your standard e-mail signature.
Think of your website as a product or service that you need to promote. A simple postcard mailing can help to inform potential clients about your site, or push current in-store clients to your online business.
Try to include something of value on your site that will make people want to return. For example, a mortgage broker might want to show daily interest rates. Encourage visitors to sign up for special offers and discounts by entering their e-mail addresses and/or other information. This enables you to entice visitors back to your site and gives you valuable information about your visitors. Use specific offer codes on your mailings and order and response forms to track which offers are the most effective at bringing people to your site.
Think about specific goals, rather than general goals. An example of a specific goal is: "I would like to gain ten new customers using my web site." Or, "I would like to triple the hit rate on my site." By setting specific goals, you lay the groundwork for a meaningful web site strategy around which you can focus your actions.
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