In addition to creating a website that speaks to the needs and interests of someone searching online (usually by Googling keywords/phrases, or doing the same on another search engine like Yahoo or Bing–formerly MSN), there is the matter of making sure that the website “speaks” to the search engines themselves in order to get indexed and ranked for good visibility. That is an entirely different language and one that most small business owners creating websites have no clue about. “Speaking to” and developing rapport with search engines is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. I call it good Internet marketing-know-how.
If you were to Google right now (I just did this) on “Online Marketing Training” you would find that 68,300,000 results come up. That would be the competition for the customer searching on those keywords. There is, of course, the follow-up logic that suggests that the searcher might be more precise about what kind of training s/he wants, where s/he needs it to be located, for what kind of market, etc. That would narrow the results for the searcher, making the remaining results more relevant. If you–the business owner–want that customer to find you (and they don’t yet know you exist), then you first have to make sure that your website attracts the Search Engine so that the Search Engine will select your business from among the huge competition, and put it in front of that searcher. That is called position, or rank. You could be that customer’s dream come true, but if the search engine does not give you good ranking, then the chances of that customer ever seeing your website (as a result of a web search) are pretty nonexistent.
In order to get visibility (show up on the first or AT LEAST the second page of the results–because most people don’t even look “below the fold” on the first page of results), the search engines need to be convinced that your site is one of the MOST RELEVANT results for that search. Its all about relevancy–and search engines have particular ways of determining that. The website’s structure, targeted use of keywords, tags, titles, even the navigation through the site–all factor into whether or not your business will show up in the first 20 results or the last 68,299,980 results.
In summary: If you want your website to function as a tool for attracting new customers who are searching online for what you have, then there are some particular things you would do well to consider earlier rather than later in the website development process. One of those things should be a commitment to creating and distributing other valuable content and information online that names, reviews, credits, announces, attributes, or cites you or recognizes your business in an authoritative light. In fact, the number one thing that convinces search engines that a website is relevant enough to rank high (show up) in the organics (the results that are not paid ads), is the extent to which it is recognized and indexed as a part of a whole system of interrelated and relevant content.
Part 2–It’s No Secret…
In addition to creating a website that speaks to the needs and interests of someone searching online (usually by Googling keywords/phrases, or doing the same on another search engine like Yahoo or Bing–formerly MSN), there is the matter of making sure that the website “speaks” to the search engines themselves in order to get indexed and ranked for good visibility. That is an entirely different language and one that most small business owners creating websites have no clue about. “Speaking to” and developing rapport with search engines is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. I call it good Internet marketing-know-how.
If you were to Google right now (I just did this) on “Online Marketing Training” you would find that 68,300,000 results come up. That would be the competition for the customer searching on those keywords. There is, of course, the follow-up logic that suggests that the searcher might be more precise about what kind of training s/he wants, where s/he needs it to be located, for what kind of market, etc. That would narrow the results for the searcher, making the remaining results more relevant. If you–the business owner–want that customer to find you (and they don’t yet know you exist), then you first have to make sure that your website attracts the Search Engine so that the Search Engine will select your business from among the huge competition, and put it in front of that searcher. That is called position, or rank. You could be that customer’s dream come true, but if the search engine does not give you good ranking, then the chances of that customer ever seeing your website (as a result of a web search) are pretty nonexistent.
In order to get visibility (show up on the first or AT LEAST the second page of the results–because most people don’t even look “below the fold” on the first page of results), the search engines need to be convinced that your site is one of the MOST RELEVANT results for that search. Its all about relevancy–and search engines have particular ways of determining that. The website’s structure, targeted use of keywords, tags, titles, even the navigation through the site–all factor into whether or not your business will show up in the first 20 results or the last 68,299,980 results.
In summary: If you want your website to function as a tool for attracting new customers who are searching online for what you have, then there are some particular things you would do well to consider earlier rather than later in the website development process. One of those things should be a commitment to creating and distributing other valuable content and information online that names, reviews, credits, announces, attributes, or cites you or recognizes your business in an authoritative light. In fact, the number one thing that convinces search engines that a website is relevant enough to rank high (show up) in the organics (the results that are not paid ads), is the extent to which it is recognized and indexed as a part of a whole system of interrelated and relevant content.
Here’s to good marketing!
Thia