An Introduction to SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is part art, part science. Don't let the term confuse you. SEO is simply the mechanics and tools of helping seekers find your business site via search engines like Yahoo or Google. They also find you via other sites and blogs and building relationships in social media land helps also. You an have a professional site review done, but most of the tweaking can be done by you, and it is generally free and easy.

Anything you do using your business persona online can help drive traffic to your site. This can include social media sites like your LinkedIn profile, commenting on an industry blog, a blog post you've written, or business articles you've submitted to directories. Whenever a customer looks for a company like yours, the more activity you have online the more likely you are to be found. THAT is SEO.

Keywords are important. Draft an appropriate list of keywords to include in your site. Let's assume you are an accountant who offers a variety of accounting services at your firm. Your site, on various pages like About Us, Services Offered, Client Profile will include terms like payroll, accounting, taxes, tax services, payroll accounting, payroll services and more.

Keywords are the words search engines seek out when someone looks for a specific term or service. It is important to incorporate keywords in well-written content. Good content keeps readers coming back for more.

Tinkering with your page categories and headings can actually improve the amount of time a potential customer spends on your site and how "deep" they go (how many different areas they click on). Subtle changes like changing the word "Categories" to "Topics" on a site have made a significant difference for famous writers like Tim Ferriss. Experiment, through watching your site analytics, to see if changing "About Us" to "Who We Are" makes a difference on attracting readers to new areas of your page.

By adding a blog to your company Web site and blogging consistently one or more times per week, you automatically improve your search engine optimization. Why? Blog posts, generally just 300 words or even less, have a broader variety of topics and keywords for search engines to find. For instance, if you own a

Have your Web designer or manager (or yourself, if that is you) examine and modify some of your meta tags. Meta tags are small pieces of code embedded in your site that tell search engines something about your content. Your company might be called Don King Accounting and Payroll, but your meta tag might read "affordable accounting for individuals and small business". Changing the wording of this meta tag can draw additional traffic to your site.

Be careful using flash animation on your home page. This can confuse search engines, making it difficult for your site to be found. Add those multimedia features to other pages instead. Provide clear and attractively presented information on your home page to educate browsers, but avoid the flash.

Linking to other sites within your business blog and Web site will help with search engine traffic. Hyperlinks build rapport and generate interest in what you do. Creating blog posts and linking to other articles, sites or services makes you associated with their traffic as well. Additionally, it is fair and normal to request a reciprocal link from sites that you link to.

When someone goes online to find a business, search engine optimization facilitates this process. Business owners should have some knowledge about how this works and what they can do to improve their rankings on major search engines. It is simple and we provide suggestions that you should be able to implement yourself for little or no cost. It isn't hard to learn but the payoffs in increased traffic can be significant!

by Steven Schlagel - July 25, 2009

Help us to improve or leave a comment when you: Click Here to take survey

Back to Top of SEO Article

###