The next 4-part series we have is going to focus on how you can take the website you have now and promote it, maximizing it’s potential and making the most of it for your business.
Today, in Part I, we are discussing Search Engine Optimization, more often known as SEO.
The foundation of promoting your website is having it positioned in web search result rankings. SEO is what works in the background of your website and plays a vital role in how successful your website will be.
How do you, as a small business owner, use SEO to promote your business?
Set Goals: in order to do this, you need to determine the main purpose of your site. Then you can target customers, which will help you define the audience that you are trying to reach. Then you can pinpoint your competition for that audience which will help you determine what your goals for SEO will be. Your goals can be in relation to your own business – to increase your online sales leads, or in relation to your competition – to rank higher than them in search engines. Or you may have branding goals – to dominate the search rankings for a certain term closely related to your brand.
This brings us to Keywords: You, as the owner of your business, know a lot about what words define you and the services you provide. But you also need to know what others think of and what words they will use when trying to find your niche. The combination of what you know and what internet viewers are looking for, will help you to make the most of keywords to keep your business promotion strong in search engines.
Remember that SEO is your website’s Way of Life: Everybody knows that for your body to be healthy, it has to be maintained constantly – regularly eating healthy and getting exercise. The same is true for your website. You can’t just go for a 5 mile jog and call it good for life. You have to keep it up. You can’t just set up your website and leave it. It has to be regularly maintained and tweaked to keep up with growing needs and requirements on the internet.
Next week, we’ll discuss more about branding and branding goals for promoting your website in Part II of this series. Be sure to check it out!