If you are a small business owner struggling to rank your website, you are not alone. Many small business owners know they need a quality website, but far too often, they are unsure 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 directory rankings.
First- Ensure your website has a current design, not old or outdated. When seeing modern and up-to-date web designs, people quickly associate their stylish look with an organized and successful business. The other primary reason is that web design always takes leaps and bounds yearly, including the backside coding. This means the Meta tags and descriptions must be correct and properly located on the page. The labels are so important that paying for it by a pro is worth every penny. It starts with the appropriate 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 attract visitors. Google’s webmaster tools are always great resources for researching relevant keywords for your business. Please remember that balance is key; never use 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 trust in your industry. Business owners must 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, and this is equally true for Google and other search engines.
Sixth- Ensure all your website links are current and intact. Broken links are never good because you want 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 used correctly, it can bring many visitors to your site, which search engines highly value.
Eighth- The website’s navigation must be clear and easy for 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. Clean navigation is a must if you want visitors to stay and go into the depths of your website.
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 a spammer. Google will block your site into the abyss of page rankings.
Tenth- Quality links for like sites. This means 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 place that relates to you. If you can set up a link from a good place to your site, you link to another place they are affiliated with. This offers a one-way connection to both locations.
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 who are good at design and development. Always ask for references and see what performance reports they offer.
People always ask me, Bob, how 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 owns 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.
