How to Improve Your Search Rankings

For small businesses in particular, effective Search Engine Optimization is often overlooked in the rush to build an attractive, user-friendly web site with truly useful content for potential clients and customers. Effective web design contains so many elements and tasks that it's difficult for a single professional to keep track of them all, let alone devote sufficient time to maximize each element of an effective site (that's why we have specialists and web development teams). If it was this easy to build a cutting edge web site and get noticed, anyone could be an expert web-based marketer and designer. We'd all get rich overnight, right?

Unfortunately, a little knowledge and a few buzzwords does not make one an expert. And don't even consider entrusting your web efforts to those cookie cutter companies which advertise their formula for success on television. It doesn't require an advanced degree to intuit that their shtick is a "one size fits all" approach, when what you really need is a custom effort based on knowledge of your company and your goals (do business with someone who values you as a client, not a customer). To put it simply, a web site is not a commodity; it's representative of your company's unique niche and products. And no matter who you do business with, you need someone to understand that basic law and design your site and social marketing plans accordingly.

So, here's a brief primer to give yourself a fighting chance to win prominent search rankings. SEO is a moving target, of course, with Google in particular locked in an unending battle against unethical marketers determined to take advantage of loopholes and exploit knowledge of the latest algorithms. 



However, even in the ever-changing landscape of SEO there are practices which are never deprecated or out of style. Here are some brief principles which never fail:

• Use important keywords in your web site copy. Be judicious or the search engines will penalize you for "keyword stuffing," but be sure to include the terms you want your customers and clients to search for.
• Research the keywords you want to use. Besides generating ideas and alternative words, it also gives you an idea of how competitive certain  keywords are--and that's something you absolutely need to know.
• If you can arrange it, attract links from web sites with search engine credibility. This makes your site seem more important to the search engines, increasing your rankings, and is most likely achieved by offering valuable content (as in blog posts) which will be re-tweeted and linked to from other sites.

There's no substitute for good writing, of course. Create value for your visitors by writing valuable content, and never forget about keywords and links to your site. Keep this in mind and you'll be well on your way to increased traffic, more customers and greater revenue.