Simply building a site for your business does not automatically bring in visitors (traffic).
The right words, however, can bring you the right market. Those words can drive traffic to your site by search engines (like Google) using those words to find your pages.
There are companies that promise to deliver high traffic by getting you on 5000 search engines. The truth is you only need to be on the top few to be effective and you can get listed on most major search engines by just being on the Internet.
Your site text should:
· Be visually easy to read
· Be written for the short attention span needed for Internet reading
· Describe your business well
Choose good writing over fancy graphics. Ask friends, family and colleagues) to check what you have written for clarity.
Below are some tips to help you develop your site and make it an effective part of your business.
Q. What is the best way to present the words on my site?
A. Basic tips:
· Write in chunks of text, keep single ideas in one paragraph and the paragraphs short.
· Use dark text (black or almost black) on a light background.
· Use subheads (bolded and/or a different color) over a set of paragraphs to draw the eye there. The subheads should be a short phrase that summarizes the paragraph's content.
· Only include information in these paragraphs that relate directly to your business.
· Use only 2-3 fonts, 3-4 sizes of type in total.
· Minimize use of italics, script and serif fonts.
Site Optimization and Traditional Marketing
Q. What is Site Optimization?
A. It is the process of “optimizing” your chances of your site being found by your target audience by:
Using the right words, in the right places, in the right way on your site and being linked from certain sites.
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Site Optimization and Traditional Marketing
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Basic tips:
· Research the most effective search phrases for your business. (Search engines like Google have tools for this. Search for: Keyword Research.)
· Repeat the key phrases and words that apply to your products and/or services as often as you can, especially on the same page.
· Use the top phrases and words that best describe your business at the top of the page.
· Don't use graphics for text. Search engines cannot find a phrase that has been made in a graphic program.
· Study the text of large, successful companies in your field.
· Always mention your Website address in your advertising and when networking.
· Develop online marketing:
1) Getting your site linked from other larger, well-marketed sites in your same industry as a referral
2) Send out bulk emails with an offer or as a newsletter. (Use a company that specializes in sending out bulk emails that you can manage.)
3) Check out Google AdWords, a Pay-Per-Click plan you can administer yourself. (Go to: adwords.google.com)
· Do not rely on search engines to be your only marketing strategy.
Top Listing in Search Engines
Q. How do I get listed at the top of a search?
A. Unless you have a product with little competition and great need (unlikely), you will either have to hire a professional optimizer who will weekly or daily refine your placement or pay a search engine for top listing. Both are costly but could get results.
Give Your Visitors Reasons to Stay and Return
Q. Once I have the right visitors, how do I get them to stay and return?
A. Basic tips:
· Offer a free or low cost anything (an hour of your time, a downloadable instructional PDF or list of resources).
· Change text and graphics frequently enough (frequency depends on the business).
· Let them sign up for a newsletter which would contain useful information related to your industry (monthly or quarterly, being careful to not send too many emails to subscribers).
· Have public pages with some of the information they could get from a newsletter or to show the quality and breadth of your knowledge.
Paying attention to some crucial details can yield big results.
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Search Engine Optimization Article 