Six steps to get your website found
In today’s world, having a website for you business is a must. Additionally, it’s no longer good enough to simply build a website and put it online. You must not only make it easy to find, you must actively promote and market it as well. Today I’m going to cover six steps that you can take, starting today, to help drive traffic to your site and help it “get found”.
1. Get local
The popularity and use of local business directories are on the rise. Large search engines, like Google, are linking business listing with their online mapping applications to provide a complete business listing. It’s essential that you register your business and web site with these local directories in order to help visitors find you. Start with Google’s local business directory. You can register your business at http://www.google.com/local/add. You must sign up for a free Google account if you don’t have one already.
2. Get Personal
Business networking has moved online. Create a profile for yourself and/or employees using the popular business networking site – LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com. Additionally, get your co-workers to create profiles as well. As with “old fashioned”, face-to-face networking, it is what you make of it. At a minimum, your LinkedIn profile will be at or near the top of search engine queries for your name and you’ll have a link back to your company’s web site. You’re profile ranking benefits from the vast resources LinkedIn uses to boost their own search engine rankings.
3. Get Linked
Do your business partners, vendors, and affiliates have links back to your web site? Google has a test to check incoming links to your site. Typing “links:yourdomain.com “ (minus quotes) into Google’s search bar will display a list of web sites with links to your site. Whatever the number of incoming links is, try to increase it by asking for links on other web sites. Be sure to reciprocate on your web site. Incoming links are a surefire way to help boost your search engine rankings.
4. Get Active
Set aside an hour each week to contribute content to another web site. It’s essential that your contribution be useful and a no-strings-attached proposition. Find a web site, blog, or message board in your industry and post a comment, tip, recommendation, or solution on the site. Be sure to include a link back to your site if allowed. Become a perceived expert in your industry! Whatever you do, don’t post garbage.
5. Get Fresh
How fresh is the content on your web site? Have you thought about starting a blog? Search engines love blogs. You may also try creating your own monthly “Top 6” list for your industry. As with your contributions in number 4, make certain that the content is useful. Your content should educate your visitors. If possible, add fresh content every week.
6. Get Optimized
Is your website search engine optimized (SEO)? Until now, you’ve should have been able to tackle most of the steps listed above. Optimizing your web site can be a formidable task. Consult a professional if you’re not sure how to proceed. Two key topics to consider are keywords and analytics.
Keywords – Just because you sell airline tickets doesn’t mean that people are searching for them when they’re ready to fly. They may be search for cheap flights or some other variation. The point is, you won’t know until you do the research. Check your keywords at http://inventory.overture.com. This is a great tool to show you popular keyword searches based on keywords that you enter. It’ll make sense once you visit the site.
Google Analytics – At the most basic level, how do you know what is and isn’t working on your site? Not technically, but as it applies to your content. Wouldn’t it be great to know what content is a homerun with your visitors and what content is a dud? Once you know your homerun content, topics for new content are easy.
Look for a SEO tip sheet coming soon. For now, get out there and start promoting your web site! Get yourself found!
