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What is SEO?
Everyone wants more people to visit their website, and more "conversions" from the people who visit. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a cost-effective marketing strategy for making sure people find your website when they enter certain search terms in Google or Yahoo. For example, for Fletcher Prince, I would like to pop up in search results for "Washington, DC area public relations firm." SEO is a challenging approach, because many companies and organizations are vying for the top positions in search engine results. However, the payoff for a well-executed SEO strategy can be very good.
The process begins with choosing specific keywords, then using those keywords in domain names and site titles. When consumers search for products and services related to your company, your website with pop up near the top if you use effective SEO strategies.
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Search Engine Optimization: Why It Matters
A Forrester Research report revealed:
-93% of all Internet traffic is generated from Internet search engines
-89% of them are first-time visitors to the website
-99% of Internet searchers do not search beyond the top 30 results
-97% of them never look beyond the top three results |
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Optimization Tips for Small Businesses and Nonprofits
If you want people to find your company or organization, make small but important changes to your website. How you write the content for your website and how you format text can make a big difference in whether your site is ranked at the top of search engine results.
- Create a two-sentence description of your company or organization and insert it as a meta tag for your website.
- Use HTML for website text, even navigation bar buttons. Link all images to a searchable alt-tag.
- Inbound links to your website are especially important. For example, you may want to have your company or organization listed on your Chamber of Commerce's home page. However, do not engage in reciprocal linking with other organizations that are unrelated to your website's subject matter. You may be penalized by search engines.
- Create a professional profile on LinkedIn with a link to your website.
- Include keywords in your URL, titles, and headings. Use them liberally in text (about 5% to 7% of your total word count should be keywords).
- Bold face your keywords and include them in h1 tags.
- Start a blog and post at least once a week. A blog is one of the most important ways to optimize your website.
- Put search-friendly, relevant content on your home page, such as 5 Tips for... or Three Ways to Improve... Strive for 85% informational content and 15% promotional content in web copy.
- Place your business listing on all free listings, such as Google Maps and Yahoo Local.
- Take advantage of all the free social media opportunities available to you, such as free MySpace and Face Book pages.
- Advertise once a week on Craig's List.
- Create a podcast or video cast. Also consider YouTube.
- Be sure your web site's footer -- with your street address, city, state, and zip code -- appears on all the pages of your website, not just the home page.
- List your business in the directories of websites of local professional and business organizations to which you belong.
- Corporate sponsorship is another optimization option for your company. Your link might be featured on community websites if you support any nonprofit organizations or teams, support conferences or special events as a sponsor, or if your business volunteers its time or other resources to associations or festivals.
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