|
An Internet marketing primer
Did you know that according to some sources, as much as 50% of all sites are discovered for the first time using a search engine? We are sure your own anecdotal evidence will confirm that fact. When looking for something on the web, most surfers don’t think twice before Googling it.
Other sources include accidental or chance discovery (the person typed-in the wrong URL or tried to guess), print and television advertisement, paid banners and links, etc. We wouldn’t bank our future on people finding our website by accident, and most people can’t afford an expensive and ongoing advertisement campaign.
|
The most efficient and cost effective way to promote your website is through search engine optimization (SEO).
|
How search engines work is a mystery to most people, and that’s partially because internal workings of search engines are closely guarded trade secrets. But despite their best efforts, a lot of information has been pieced together by reverse engineering though trial and error and reviewing company patents.
Basically, when you type a phrase into a search engine, the results are displayed in order of relevancy. Different search engines use different algorithms, but many have the same basic criteria. In other words, your web page is being scored on a number of different points and the one with the most points comes first.
Here are a few important ones. Consider this a brief primer on how things work:
- Keywords
Don’t expect a search engine to pick your site as one of the top results for a certain search term if you don’t have those words on your page. So it’s a good idea to find out what search terms related to your industry are being used before you start writing content.
But don’t try to guess, you might as well be wrong. We have the tools to confirm your choices and discover other words you may not have considered.
- Links
The internet is interconnected. If you’re site is remote like a deserted island, no one is going to find it. You have to start building relationships with sites in your industry. On the Internet, partnerships are formed through links. Every link to your site is like a vote for your site, and every link you give to someone else is a boost for them. So be careful who you vote for, or you might get a bad reputation.
- Content
There is just no substitute for good content, meaning original text and images. Cheating by copying text from another site doesn’t work; search engines will know it’s been plagiarized and will punish the offending site. The point system is both positive and negative.
- Freshness
Creating content should be a perpetual endeavor. If your site is to place well in search engine results, make it an active evolving site.
- Page design
For all their brilliance, search engines are still just machines, and machines get stuck. A search engine friendly site will be designed without frames, intro pages, excessive flash, redirects, JavaScript links and other unreachable content. Buried pages that have never been discovered have no chance of showing up in the results. HTML coding errors can cast a negative shadow on your site also. More information about web design.
So it’s easy then – write, link, repeat? Well, not really. It is very time consuming and a lot of unethical search engine spammers will try to cut corners.
Beyond the clicksIt's not just a question of getting visitors to your website; you also have to keep them on the page and keep them coming back. Good web design, beautiful graphics along with quality content are the best ways to keep your visitors attention. Our web designers are experienced in creating attention-grabbing web design that will keep them coming back. Check out more about web design.
Hopefully we will have educated you on the process, and will help you identify the good search engine optimizers from the bad ones. For more information on our Internet marketing services, please call us.
|
|
|
|