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Keywords (and Clients!) Made For You

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and thousands of people are searching the world (and–with the advent of sites like eHarmony and Plenty of Fish.com–the worldwide web) in hopes of being struck by cupid. While many web browsers are looking for Mr. or Mrs. Right, others are looking for just what your business has to offer. Don't ignore or allude them–make the "chase" that much easier by helping them find you!

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has become a key ingredient to a successful online presence. What good is your website if there's no one locating it within the billions of web pages out there? Sure, your general products and services may narrow it down—but that's still too many "fish in the sea."

Why should you be thinking about SEO?

1. It's easy: You know what you're offering- sum it up! By choosing rich and relevant keywords, you can increase visibility and access to your site in no time.

2. It's cost-effective: In most cases, once you have a website, SEO is free. In this sense, it is the most powerful, least expensive marketing strategy you have to increase visits to your site.

3. It generates targeted traffic: SEO delivers potential clients to your site who have typed in your keywords. That means they're already interested in what you're offering, so the potential for sales is higher.

4. It keeps you in competition: Chances are businesses selling similar products and services have already taken advantage of SEO- that's why they're appearing before you on popular search engines. Web browsers tend to click the first listing that seems relevant and professional (75 to 80% stop on the first page) so it's important to bump yourself up the list.

5. It inspires you to create a bolder, fresher website: By narrowing down the keywords and phrases to represent your business, you'll capture the essence of what you are truly offering your clients, giving visitors a more authentic experience of you and your products and services.

Because there is no central "registry" of online search engines, it is unknown exactly how many are available. However, the majority of online searches take place on Google, Yahoo and MSN, with Google controlling most of the current market. When a user performs a search in one of these engines, there are two types of listings that appear: sponsored results (for which a company has paid for the appearance)-and organic results.

Organic results are links to sites that the search engine has dynamically ranked as being most relevant to a given keyword or phrase. Unlike sponsored listings, there is no cost for a listing to appear. Studies show that web users tend to select the organic results over the sponsored listings: 60.8% on Yahoo prefer organic results. On Google, that number is 72.3% and the number increases for experienced web users. The higher your website is on that list, the more traffic your site will likely get.

Here are some tips to get started in SEO:

Choose the right keywords: Knowing what terms or phrases your ideal clients are inputting is crucial to attracting them to your site. Generic terms are more competitive, so try to come up with a unique list (including your organization or product name). You can check the popularity of choices using an online keyword database.

Modify (or have your webmaster modify) your site, giving special attention to your homepage: Search engines pull results from your homepage first, so the content there is especially important. Be sure to give each page a relevant title and name all images with dynamic words- not Image1.jpg. Refer back to your keyword list often to make sure they all appear somewhere on your site.

Don't forget about link-building: Getting the websites of partners, sponsors, members, etc. to link to yours doesn't just increase traffic directly. The more traffic generated to your site, the higher your ranking will be in search engines. Place banner ads on partner sites, write articles and press releases in online directories, etc. Get your link out there!

Keep website content and keywords fresh and relevant: Search engines recognize that dynamic websites with updated content are more successful and will therefore direct more traffic to them. To avoid outdated information and lower rankings, consider creating a blog, weekly feature or article that you will continuously update with the most relevant topics (and keywords) regarding your company's products, events, etc.

Analyze your results: To increase your chances of driving even more traffic to your site, find out how (and how many) people are locating your site and if they are returning. There are several different programs available to analyze your site's statistics, including the popular Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/

Whether they're looking for love or looking for your latest product, internet users conduct over 625 million searches every day on search engines. This Valentine's Day, optimize the opportunity to attract your ideal clients by choosing the right (and the right now) keywords and topics for your site.

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For more information, watch last month's segment of the Web Marketing Education Program with Deborah Gallant on Getting Your Site Found. (www.vimeo.com/8894209)

Deborah's topic this month is Google Analytics. Find out how to get rich insight into your website's traffic without being a tech expert.

Thursday, February 18th
12:00-1:00 p.m. EDT