So, when was the last time you acted like one of your customers and tried to find your business online? I know, we're all very busy, but this little experiment will help you develop the perspective you need to begin conquering the mysteries of the search engines!
Open up your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, etc.). Go to your favorite search engine (google.com, netscape.net, yahoo.com, etc.). Enter in different search terms related to your products or services. Did your business come up in the results? Were you on the first three pages?
No? Don't worry. It takes a considerable amount of targeted effort to get on those first three pages. But I know how to do it. And I want to teach you!
Get a piece of paper and a pen. On that paper write down five or ten words or phrases that you think a potential customer might enter into a search engine when looking for your product or service. For instance, if you sell real estate in Las Vegas, a phrase you might write down would be "las vegas real estate" or "real estate in las vegas." Capitals and plural endings don't matter.
This list of "keywords" will be crucial in building your website traffic. Professional SEO's develop lists of literally hundreds of keywords for any one web page. For our purposes try to get as many as you can. Ten is good. Twenty is better.
If you are in real estate, was "real estate" one of your keywords? If you are in retail shoe sales, was "shoe sales" on your list? The thing many beginning do-it-yourself optimizers don't realize is that when you use your website to make money, you are potentially competing against the entire world!
Go to your favorite search engine and search for real estate. See how many websites come up? If your website is relatively new, it is extremely difficult to compete against the more established sites. You'll need to focus your keywords.
So, instead of using broad keywords like "real estate" (or even "las vegas real estate" for that matter), narrow down your keywords to something more specific like "new construction in las vegas" or "apartment sales in las vegas." If you are in retail sales, include your location in your keywords.
For now, focus on local niche keywords- as local as you can get- down to the specific neighborhoods you service or the location of your store or one specific aspect of your business.
Go back and refine your list again. The SEO pros constantly reevaluate and refine their lists. Make sure you're not trying to compete with too large a market. Focus your efforts. The goal is not to generate loads of traffic. The goal is to generate targeted traffic that is ready to buy!
Your carefully researched list of keywords is the foundation of an effective and potentially profitable website. Once you've created your list, save it in a folder marked "keywords." Then, after you've incorporated these keywords into your website, gauge their effect carefully. In three months, the average time it takes for the search engines to rank your website according to these changes, start your research over. Were these keywords helpful? What would you change? What should you keep?
Optimizing your website is a constant process. Make sure you stay on top of it!