subject: Seo For Businesses - Back To Basics [print this page] People who are starting a business on the internet for the first time hear terms like search engine optimization (SEO) and feel they might be getting involved with something that's highly technical and best left to the professionals. They think that SEO might be the domain of experts like web programmers.
Whilst there are lots of different aspects of website promotion and search engine marketing that the average Joe will not even begin to think about or be aware of, there are a number of basics that any company doing business on the internet should make it a priority to understand.
The truth is the basics of SEO are nothing more than making sure that your website is being seen as more favorable than your competitors. Assessing your sites optimization using an algorithm is a way big search engines like Google use to categorize your website and place it in a ranking system so that people can find it more easily. Of course there's a little more to it than that, but that's the nuts and bolts of what some people feel is a complicated term.
Once you dig a little deeper, it's even easier to understand what SEO is all about. Following are a few of the things you can look at on your own websites to make sure you're presenting your selves to the search engines in the best possible way.
=> Content Is King: Although you might have heard that phrase before it's one of the axioms on the internet you need to be aware of. It's important to have a steady supply of original content on your website that also has keywords in it so the search engines like Google will take notice. The keywords you have on your page need to be the ones you customers are looking for so make sure you research this thoroughly.
=> Internal Linking: Internally you also need to take a good look at the kind of the links you to have on your website. These are the keyword phrases that light up when you point your mouse at them and take you to another page when you click. Terms like click here and more info will not help you, use anchor text that is relevant to the page you are pointing to.
=> Backlinks: It's important here that you get as many relevant back links as possible to your website because that creates the kind of online spider web important to SEO. It's important to have quality anchor links as well that represent the services or goods you offer for example, if you offer construction services a link that says Joe Blogs and Son is weak where as a link that says Joe Bloggs and son Construction Services is much more powerful. Make sure you site is reasonably optimized though before embarking on large link building campaigns.
=> Company Blogs: Try using blog marketing. If you have a website where the content is quite static and you don't want to change it to a content management system (CMS), you might want to try using a blog on you site as a way of increasing your SEO potential as these tend to draw the attention of the search engines. They are also an excellent way of keeping your site up to date and also to provide news or business wins and case studies to increase customer confidence.
When you're focusing on keywords and links, as a business owner you should be able to work SEO to your advantage as you understand your business better than most, but the reality is any small business owners who run Internet based businesses don't have the time to look after the SEO themselves so they find a search engine marketing company that can do the work for them. If this is you then try ensuring that any SEO company you employ has at the very least an understanding of your particular market sector.
by: Dave Talbot
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