SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

The purpose of search engine optimization (SEO) is to boost your site's rank in the main search engines. Getting listed on the front page of google for your business category is no small feat. Here are a few ideas to get you started to see how it's done.

Pick key phrases that define the content on your site. For a web design firm this could be "web design for small business." 

Being diligent about managing your content, updating it frequently, adding pages to your site giving it more of a content rich experience will not only drive more traffic to your site, but also help you to keep visitors once they get to your site as well.

Submit your site to as many directories as you can find. Any back link (where another site links back to your site) is a good one. You want your site name to appear in as many places as possible.

Utilize facebook and other social media outlets. These are powerful tools that can grow your audience. Gather friends and family as fans and expand that to your business contacts. Post something catchy that will inspire people to write comments on your wall or twitter feed. Questions like "when was the last time you saw a logo so cool that you had to mention it to a friend?" Questions will spark someone's brain into thinking about what you said and invite them to respond.

Use Google ad words and facebook advertising. Search engines and social media sites have huge databases of information about their users. As long as the users are logged into the site they know exactly what the person on the other end is interested in, searching for and wants to buy. They use this information to put ads up that match their queries which means your ads will be in front of your potential customers.

Developing an SEO strategy and executing it takes a time committment from any business owner. However, as a business owner you should be doing what you do best, and that's growing your business.