There is nothing underhand about optimising your web site for the search engines. It can include ensuring your web site has good copy, is well written, the XHTML code contains no errors and is linked in major directories relating to your industry or business.
The following sections are some of the techniques used to rank your web site on major search engines.
This is where good SEO comes into play. It's no use trying to target fifty keywords on a single page. Ideally, for each page of your web site, we will target competitive phrases, related to your business service or industry. Your copy will flow & be keyword targeted.
There are no guarantees, however, that your web site will rank competitively in the major search engines by keyword targeting alone. Even with proper SEO, it may be difficult to rank your small business web site the coveted number one spot. We also have keyword research done for webmasters.
The design of the page & copy must tie in to your meta tags, title & description attributes. Suitable incoming links, with anchor text, will be sought. Using organic search & development techniques, including correct coding of the web pages & adherence to standards in XHTML & CSS, your web site should rank competitively against similar sites in your industry domain or service.
There are some SEO strategies that you may employ on your own, to complement the work of an SEO specialist.
Your link campaign can be SEO targeted to your niche, keyword or keyphrase that you want to rank your web site for.
It's important to use relevant anchor text for incoming links, wherever possible. It's not helpful to have links pointing at your web site with poor anchor text. Words contained in the anchor text can determine the ranking a particular link may give to the landing page; An example of this would be:
A better anchor text strategy would be: Dylan Thomas - Poetry & Prose as an incoming link to your site.
As well as good incoming anchor text links you must also look at your web sites internal link structure. Using the same anchor text technique, there can be additional weight given to certain pages within your site, directly targeting keywords or phrases within your copy.
Myspace, Beebo, Facebook, Twitter & Youtube are examples of social networking web sites that can add to your arsenal of SEO tactics.
Get on these sites, add content; interact with your audience & reach out using blogging & twitter updates to let your customers know exactly what is happening behind the scenes & keep them updated on new products, ideas or services that you have.
Use Youtube as a video platform to interact with your customer base by offering instructional videos, product demos or tips. With use of some of the content, such as your Youtube videos, from these social networks to build content for your web site, which can be embeded on your pages giving added value to your web site.
If you decide that you would like to do your own SEO, or online marketing, for your small business; be careful. Many SEO tool vendors sell software which is outdated or irrelevant.
An alternative to full scale blogging can be found using Twitter: A micro-blogging platform that allows you to post short messages & updates, typically 140 characters or less.
The beauty of this micro-blogging platform, is that you can have frequent updates, perhaps to a project you are working on, an event that you are involved in or even the day to day operations of your company or business, without having to invest your valuable time updating your web site using a full scale blog platform.
There are more tweeter tools available. For example, using a micro-blogging file sharing tool such as tweet cube: micro-blogging with tweet cube
Blogging is an excellent way to increase content for your web site, develop valuable incoming links, through syndication of your blog, & general awareness of your business exploits. A good blog is best if it's updated frequently, with fresh new content, to keep the search engines 'coming back for more'.
Leave the big postings to your blog, which may not have to be as frequently updated, if you are using Twitter. The blog can have your video content, streaming podcasts delivered through Flash - Or, if you have a Content Management System (CMS) installed, you can have a simple news section that can be updated with recent events or special interest links, geared towards your industry or profession. You certainly don't have to have a blog.
These are only a few of the many techniques used in optimising your web site for better placement in search results. Your site must be properly analysed to find the best fit for you, your product or industry.
There is no quick fix by simply buying your way to the top with paid links from irrelevant industries or web sites. You can't choose who links to you on the Internet; someone may arbitrarily link to your web site, it's the nature of the world wide web, however, what would a Hand Cream For Women web site have to do with Joe's Plumbing & Heating? If you have too many incoming links from unrelated web sites, which are also giving you obvious anchor text, then those incoming links may be seen as SEO spam.