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Keyword Search

Identify the keywords that you believe your target audience would use to search for your product or service.

Look for words and phrases that are the most relevant to your product or service versus how much potential traffic they bring.  For example, the keyword phrase “minnesota lawyers” may be too generic for a Minneapolis law firm that only specializes in criminal law.  A better search engine phrase may be “criminal lawyers Minneapolis,” because it’s more descriptive and relevant to its target audience.

Focus on finding two to three keyword phrases per page of your website’s content.

Below are the most agreed upon approaches by SEO experts to help improve your rankings. Use the keyword phrases you’ve selected as you write your meta tags and website copy.

Meta Tags

• Title Tag- The most critical tag in your website code that tells the search engine what the website/page is about. This is the text that search engine visitors ultimately click on to view your website.  Limit your title tag to 8 words or less.

• Description Meta Tag-  Found underneath your search engine listing and thus people will read or skim it before clicking on your search listing.  This tag is not required by most search engines; however it does improve the likelihood that a potential visitor will click on your listing.  Limit your description to 190 characters and try to repeat your keywords.

Web Copy

• H1 Headers- The top text header before a paragraph of content.  Header tags are typically labeled in the order of hierarchy they are presented in the website.  Therefore a second header in a page is usually labeled as H2, H3, etc.  Use your keywords in the headers.

• Keyword Density- Refers to how frequently the keyword presents itself in a page.  As in the example of the criminal lawyer, consider using the keyword “Minneapolis criminal lawyer” in the web page copy for every hundred words of text.

URL

• URL Structure- Refers to the actual URL address that the web page / website reside.  Purchasing a domain name that has keywords embedded in it like “criminallawyersminneapolismn.com.” may help improve your rankings.   If you wish to keep your company name or domain, you can change your internal URL to reflect your keywords such as: www.mycompanysite.com/minneapolis-criminal-lawyers.html.

Link Popularity

Increasing your website’s link popularity is the second component to the search engine optimization campaign.  I’ve attached the two links below to provide more detail.

Places To Promote Your Website for Free - Part 1

Places To Promote Your Website for Free Part 2

If you are unsure how to deploy these optimization techniques, you may prefer to outsource these services to a firm that specializes in search engine optimization.  As you may have gathered, small changes in optimization strategy can greatly influence the results.  As such, it’s important to find a supplier that upholds the most current optimizing techniques.  To find a highly ethical and reputable provider of SEO, the Better Business Bureau and the SEO Consultants Directory provide easy look-up options.  For more information regarding search engine optimization techniques or best practices, be sure to check out other posts on our online marketing blog.

There is a BIG difference between a good-looking website and a website that works.  99.999% of businesses are aware that they need a website. However a large percentage of those businesses do not know that their website could hurt them rather than help them.

Many websites are created in-house by various different employees, which is usually a big mistake.  Just because your administrator took a class in college or plays on the internet a lot does not mean they are capable of creating and designing a workable website that will generate leads and grow your business.

Another common mistake is not putting your contact info on the homepage in the upper right hand corner. Rather they put it down on the bottom of the page or only on the Contact Us page.  The issue with this is that we are all time poor and have no attention spans while surfing the web.  We know what we want and we want to get it in about 30 seconds by searching via Google, Yahoo or MSN.

I have also come across several Brochure sites meaning they are used as a reference only.  A reference only site is not really a working site, but an online brochure that you can direct companies you already have contact with to but does not work well to generate new business.

The last mistake people make is a lack of links.  There are sites that will link to your site and sites you should link yours to.  This adds credibility to your site, making it more resourceful if you have good links, but more importantly, the linking process helps gain relevance for Google, Yahoo and MSN Search algorithms. This will help your site show-up higher in natural or “unpaid” listings in the search results.

So How Do You Make Your Site Fabulous?
A website that works is one that has several different elements incorporated into it.  Everyone knows that your website should look nice and be in keeping with your specific industry and branding, but there a few other things you need to do before your website is fabulous.

• It should be updated every 1 to 2 years depending on your industry.
• The navigation should be easy and clear for your visitors to understand.
• You should always have your contact information (phone #) visible on every page.
• Search engine optimization (SEO) is an element that is more important than any of the other elements.  SEO is what gets your website found by consumers and businesses searching for your product or service.
• Tracking with Google analytics or any other analytics program is an easy way to gauge the growth your company is driving from your site.

By optimizing and building a working website, that incorporates all these elements, you can generate leads online and find your business growing.

Advice: Use a professional web designer/developer to create and launch your website.

Chio –
Lennea Israelson