What can YOU do to improve your online presence?
The topic of Search Engine Optimisation is highly debated through the World Wide Web. For those who like to work on something which has no grey areas then Search Engine Optimisation and online marketing is not going to come naturally to you. Search engines like Google do not give away their secret on how they decide who goes to number one in the results! What's more, everyone wants to be number one, so how can we even get close? There are some things you can do to help the process.
You are the expert in your field, tell everyone!
Anyone can hire a designer to create a website - that bit is easy (albeit, sometimes not cheap). The content of your website is also of utmost importance - both to your potential readers and the search engines. However, this is still not enough. Producing articles like this and publishing them online is a very important aspect of improving your online presence! I know, some of you are saying - I can't write articles that will be published! You probably can do more than you realise - after all - you will be writing about your business niche. If, however, you are not keen to do this, then you can get someone else to write your article on your behalf based on your expertise.
The future is movies!
Movies are becoming noticeably important, not only to attract customers, but also attract search engines like Google. Have you ever used YouTube? If so, you will understand the big hype about short movies. If you can create a PowerPoint presentation, you can create an online video/movie! It really is that simple. The difficult bit is making sure your video content is not just about advertising YOUR business, but also providing people with free advice, humour or something interesting! It doesn't matter what area of work you are in, you need to look at proving your expertise through online movies. Again, there are companies out there that can help with this sort of thing.
Internal Search Engine Optimisation
Your web designer should be able to guide you through the process of internal search engine optimisation, but below are some of the areas you should check:
- Does each page have a Title Tag which contains the keywords you are trying to attract? (and is relevant to the reader). The title of each page is displayed at the very top of your browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari) window.
- Are you using headings in your website that contain sensible keywords? A heading is in the form of H1, H2, H3 tags. Go to View Source in your browser to check if it contains headings.
- Is your content both user-friendly and search engine friendly? The main text of your pages should contain some of the keywords you are trying to attract - but be very careful about stuffing your text with keywords!
- Images should have alt tags associated with them which in turn should use keywords.
Social Networking
Ever heard of Facebook, Twitter or Linked In? These are just some of the online social networks that you can join! Why are these important? Facebook alone has over 400 million active users and it is suggested that people spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook (Statistics taken from Facebook press room). It is easy to create a business page on face book - just go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php. But there is a bit more to it than just creating a page! Your first goal is to gain as many fans as possible - so, find all your colleagues, friends and family and get them to "like" your company page. Then, you need to provide updates on offers, services, events offered by your company on a regular basis - making sure you link back to relevant pages on your website. If your business is based in Ireland, Northern Ireland or the south, have a look at http://www.smallbusinesscan.com - a relatively new place to network online and develop your business. If all of this is over your head, you can get someone to help you through the process!
And Finally!
These are only some of the things you can do to help improve your online presence and ranking on search engines. It is not for the faint hearted! It is hard work. It is all about having an honest approach to improving your presence online.
A final word of advice - be cautious about companies who contact you offer a "quick fix" and "guaranteed number 1 position" - often (but not always) they are using black hat SEO techniques which will work in the short term but your website will be penalised in the long run.
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