If you are a small business owner struggling with getting your website ranked -you are not alone. Many small business owners know they need a quality website, but far too often, they are not sure what it takes to get it noticed by the public. I hope the following set of simple SEO tips helps you get your website in shape to move up in the directories rankings.
First- Make sure your website has a current design, not old and outdated. When people see modern and up-to-date web designs, they quickly associate their modern look with an organized and successful business. The other primary reason is, web design always takes leaps and bounds yearly-including the backside coding. This means the Meta tags and descriptions need to be correct and in the proper location on the page. The tags are so important that paying for it by a pro is worth every penny. It starts with the proper title and descriptions/keywords for the search engine bots to read correctly.
Second- The website needs to be as error-free as possible. This means spelling, links, and proper coding. Good design firms will always run the code with w3c.org to eliminate coding issues. Plus, you need to know what keywords to use to bring visitors to your site. Google’s webmaster tools are always a great resource tool to research relevant keywords for your business. Please remember balance is key, never too many or too few keywords.
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Third- Content- content- content! The more you show an in-depth knowledge of what you represent as a business, the more the public gains a sense of trust in your business. Business owners need to see their website as a constantly evolving resource, not a flat document like a one-run advertisement.
Fourth- Do not overdo it on the amount of color that you use on your website. Remember, white is the best background when people need to read the text. The color is a good thing, but too much is overwhelming to visitors.
Fifth- Speed is the key! People cannot stand slow-loading websites. This is also equally true for Google and other search engines.
Sixth- Make sure all the links on your website are current and intact. Broken links are never good because you want your visitors to have resources – not dead-end pages.
Seventh – Social media-yes Facebook. Facebook is a great tool when used properly. It truly keeps you in direct contact with your customers and potential customers. Again this is a tool that has endless power. The more effort put into it, the more it will result in business gain and site rank. If it is used correctly, it can bring in many visitors to your site, which the search engines highly value.
Eighth- The website’s navigation needs to be clear and easy for your visitors to find content. Just like modern website design is important, clean and clear navigation for your website is essential. The search engines place a higher value on sites that can bring visitors in two or three pages. If visitors leave after just the first page, they assume your site is not that interesting. If you want visitors to stay and go into the depths of your website, clean navigation is a must.
Ninth – Do not ever spam your visitors with unwanted emails. It is always smart to offer a way for visitors to stay engaged with you directly, but never force your website on them. The last thing you want is for Google to see you as is a spammer. Google will block your site into the abyss of page rankings.
Tenth- Quality links for like sites. Meaning a diet website offers nothing for a plumbing store website- relevance matters. Google likes to see one-way links to your site, but not all links should directly link back to the site that links to you. If you can set up a link from a good site to your site, you link to another site they are affiliated with. This offers a one-way link to both sites.
Applying these simple ten SEO tips will go a long way in helping your website rise in the rankings. If you know what you are doing with backside coding, you can do a lot, but you can do more harm than good if you do not know proper coding. Small business owners need to find local web designers that are good at both design and development. Always ask for references and see what performance reports they offer.
People ask me all the time, Bob, how do you stay on top of what is needed to improve website ranking. I always answer the same way – lots of reading and continued education.
Bob is the owner of Getting Noticed Webs, a website design and optimization company. His focus is on ranking websites organically, not using pay-per-click advertising. Bob loves to educate small business owners on how to get the edge in this market and skyrocket their business to the top! He has been able to rank sites nationally and locally.
