Search engine optimization for small businesses

Search engine optimization for small businesses is crucial for those who want a credible presence on the Internet, especially if you are competing with others for either local share or market share.

Studies have shown that 84% of all initial website "discoveries" are from the search engines (Forrester Research). Therefore it is essential that your website is optimised to be as high as possible in the rankings of the major search engines. When searching for a website by keywords, the hundreds of millions of users of the Internet throughout the world will seldom bother to trawl past the fourth or fifth page of the search engine listings. Most wouldn't bother to go past page two (would you?). So if your competitor is on page one then what are you doing on page seven? At present, this is the single most important aspect of Internet marketing, and search engine optimization for small businesses is an increasingly important part of that.

Search Engine Optimization - Good Keyword Research

For good search engine optimization (or SEO) you need to get the best keywords and/or keyphrases for your site - the most relevant and popular keywords that the people out there are using. This is the starting point for all optimization procedures, and is probably the most important aspect of search engine optimization for small businesses itself. WordTracker has a useful free trial mode which can be dipped into at any time; although this facility is much more limited than the full paid-for version, it offers a useful insight into the sheer importance and power of the right keywords in search engine optimization, as well as being helpful in its own right.

Search Engine Optimizer is your first port of call in enabling your website to be search engine friendly. This software package reports back on any problems that your website may have, including things which will get your website barred from specific search engines. It also includes helpful suggestions about search engine optimization, and will give you definite error messages for specific lines in your webpages where the coding will be unacceptable to the search engines. You can then go to that line without leaving the software shell and correct the problem, then run the SEO again where you will see that the error message no longer appears. Reports can be run for each of the major search engines, or for a template (generic) search engine, depending upon preferences.

Establish links - increasingly important in creating favour with the search engines. There are tools around that automatically trawl the Internet for links to other sites relevant to your own, but such tools are increasingly frowned upon as they increasingly become unable to disguise what they are - software rather than humans. The traditional way to establish links is manually. Put a link to the site you want to link to on your own website first (this should be a relevant site, but not a competitor: for example, if you ran a website for a small country hotel, you might like to establish a link from a local car hire company. This would be of benefit not only to your customers but also to the car hire company). Then send an email to the webmaster or owner of that site, with a few words stating why you like that site so much, and why you think it would be of benefit to both of you if you could establish a mutual link. It is important to personalise this message so your email will not be perceived as just another "link bot" or link harvester. Suggest which pages on each site you think the links should go. Make it easy for the webmaster to react positively to your suggestion.

In a couple of weeks check their website to see if the link has been established. If no link can be seen to your own website from their site, assume that the webmaster does not think it would be a good idea. Always remember that most will actually say no. All this is time-consuming, assuredly, but the more relevant links you have, the higher will be your ranking in the search engine listings. Remember that quality is always better than quantity. Do not use "link farms", or link to FFA sites. Avoid them like the plague. They are worthless and may well get your website penalised.

Don't forget to submit your website to the major directories/indexes. Yahoo! and the Open Directory (DMOZ) are two of the best-known indexes. Both of them can indeed significantly increase your rankings in the search engines, notably Google. Submission to the Open Directory is currently still free.

There is a brand new must-have piece of software that allows you to optimise your website to get to the top of the search engines by seeing exactly what your opposition is doing. Total Optimizer Professional checks out the websites at the top of the search engines for the search keyword terms that you choose, and then within seconds reports back to you with an analysis of the various components of what makes the top websites achieve that status. You get a detailed report on keyword density, pagerank, back links and lots of other data that you should then emulate and equal or beat the current top site. It is very easy to use, but so powerful that even professional search engine optimisers use it for their clients. Click here to begin your free 30 day trial of this indispensable software. It puts the power of the top SEO specialist into the hands of the average website owner and is highly recommended.

Search Engine Optimization for Small Businesses

Search Engine Optimization - Good Keyword Research

Total Optimizer Professional