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Search Engine Optimization How can we make your website get noticed... The one most important concern that most people have for their company website is, "How can it can noticed?" If you didn't want to grow your business, you probably wouldn't have gotten a website in the first place. It's more important than the website looking cool or doing neat stuff. You mainly just want to increase your business. Since we've established this as your number one priority, let's discuss the best strategies for Search Engine Optimization (commonly referred to by web developers as SEO). Together, we can make your website more popular. But it will require a little work on your part. So read on... #1 Submitting your site to Google Once I have finished designing your website, and you are satisfied with its look and functionality, my next step is to submit your new site to Google's search engine. Google is by far the most popular search engine, so if you can get noticed their, your site is sure to pop up in other listings as well. Submitting your website to Google is a quick, free and painless procedure that may be one of the most important things you do. And I do it for you. First of all, I'll let Google know about your website URL address through its search engine submission page. But in addition, I will submit your company information to Google Maps. This service, which is also free, will insure that your company appears in the business listings for your area. The nice bonus aspect of this feature is that you can choose to include information about your business, including your logo, photos, basic information about your products and services, and of course, a link to your webpage. If you live in a city like Los Angeles or Atlanta, it's still going to be a challenge to get your website noticed among so many others, but Google Maps will help you achieve this goal more quickly. Your Content is Key This is where YOU can help out the most... Google loves useful and informative content on web pages. Animation may look great, but Google doesn't see your animation - it just sees your code. What's included in your code?... page names, file names, and text. So don't expect a Flash-based website to be of much use to any search engine. Including Flash on your website is still a great idea, because it can make your website fun and hip. But Flash should only be a PART of your website. What you need to do is start writing text. And it needs to be text that is helpful, instructional, or educational. Why? Well, it serves two purposes... First of all, it gives your site visitors a reason to stay on your site. If you sell hot-air balloons, you need to convince potential customers that buying a hot-air balloon is a great idea! Sure, we can grab their attention first with great photos, and maybe even video, of hot-air balloons. But then they're going to want to know, "Are they safe? How much does it cost? How do I take care of it? Are they really that much fun, or just a novelty item? How will I benefit from buying a hot-air balloon?" All of these questions will go through your customer's mind, so why not answer them? The more you can convince your visitors that a hot-air balloon is what they need, the most likely they are to buy one. Secondly, Google's search engine is very sophisticated and it will pick up on the nature of your content. If you write a lot of coherent text which frequently uses the words "hot-air balloon," Google will keep track of every time you use those keywords. The more you use them, the more relevant Google will consider your website when someone types "hot-air balloon" in its search engine field. But if you just type, "hot-air balloon," over and over again on your page, without any kind of description to separate those words, Google will notice that too... but in a bad way. Google will actually penalize you for trying to take advantage of the system by putting you lower in its search engine results or removing your website listing altogether. Why can't I write all of your text for you? Because I'm a web designer, not a hot-air balloon specialist. You know far more about your product than I do and you are the one who ultimately needs to draw in customers by the quality of your service. I will help you by doing limited research and writing some text, but it's YOUR business! If you want it to succeed, you're going to have to do some work. Metatags and other technical stuff... There are some other steps, though less significant, that can be taken to help your website get noticed in search engines. This includes carefully choosing the proper page titles and adding keywords (also known as metatags) to each of your webpages. These are elements which I make a practice of including as a part of my web design. |
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To get your new website up and running quickly, contact Jeff at 850-261-8448 or info@pensacolawebsites.com. |