I had a learned marketing friend of mine comment that the information on SEO on our blog was ok for a propeller-head, but didn’t really help a business owner, so this article is intended to set the stage for information contained in the related articles.
Firstly - what is SEO? Well - its short for Search Engine Optimization, and its the process of tuning up your web site so that it ranks better on search engines.
Why is that important? - well think of your web site as a book. It is sitting in the very large library called the Internet, and the only people that know about it are friends and current business acquaintances. They know the title of the site and where it sits on the shelf.
What you are trying to do through SEO is to get your site listed in the equivalent of the Internet catalog. That way people that are not intimately acquainted with who you are and what you sell will find you…..
Not only that - you are also trying to get your site listed at the top of the index for a particular subject. There are millions of sites out there on every conceivable subject. If you sell widgets, then it won’t do you very much good if your site is the 1543th listed under ‘widgets’. It would be like having a Yellow page advertisement where your business is listed in very small print at the back of the book!
There are two ways that you can get your site listed highly - the first is through paying for a listing - Google Adwords is one program that will help in that. These are the paid listings that you will see on the right side of the page when you do a Google search. The second method is through Search Engine Optimization, which will raise your rankings in the main listings.
What Search Engine Optimization does is make your web site more appetizing to the search engines, and make your site more important to them.
How is it done? That is a long subject that is addressed briefly in the other articles:
Can you SEO your own site? Yes of course you can. Follow those articles and I’ll guarantee your rankings will improve, but my recommendation is to leave it to an expert. Doing it yourself is like trying to build a deck armed only with a screwdriver and a knife. You can get there, but its going to be a frustrating experience.
An SEO expert can save you an immense amount of time, trial and error and frustration, as they have the right tools for the job.
Oh, one more piece of advice. If you see an organization promising to get you a top ten listing for $10 a month……RUN! It can’t be done ethically for that amount of money, and the search engines are just as likely to ban your site as to list it highly - you have been warned!!
