Simple techniques that will put you ahead of the competition.
Every day I help dozens of small businesses optimize their websites to improve their visibility and rankings on search engines, and every day, I ask one client to make many of the same changes as the last.
Small business websites generally face some major obstacles to ranking well on Google, and competition is rarely one of those obstacles - at least not in this stage in the game as most small business owners still seem oblivious to the potential in being ranked first in search engine rankings - of course, competition varies within industries (apologies to all the real estate agents that are reading this). In my experience, once these obstacles are out of the way, small business websites (for auto repair shops, day spas, shooting ranges, etc.) climb very quickly to the top spots on search engines.
So what does it take to step ahead of the competition?
1. Design it right - the first time
Small business websites have two inherent enemies: the owner, and his/her budget. I wish I had recorded (because I promise you’d be surprised) all the times I’ve heard:
I made this site myself with Dreamweaver/SiteBuilder/[an online tool] but it doesn’t seem to be appear in search engines
or
I can’t make the changes you asked for because the tool I built my website with doesn’t give me access to the HTML/my web designer says that those changes are just too hard (web designer is inadequate)
The best advice I can give (and as a web designer you’ll hear this from me again and again) is to find a professional web designer. Small business owners often either look for the cheapest, most affordable solution and sacrifice quality and the ability to test and improve their website, or they try to do it themselves, thinking that the FrontPage 2000 class they took in High School qualifies them to make the company website - besides, it saves money, right?
There are plenty of affordable web designers (no I’m not talking about the friend of your nephew’s girlfriend) that will work with you to make a website that reflects your brand, product, and customer base.
Don’t forget - websites are promotional. You wouldn’t pay for a cookie-cutter mailer or pay for billboards on roads with no traffic (see where I’m going with this?) - so don’t expect that using the cheapest/simplest web builder or template is going to be a smart investment.
When it comes to building a website, think in the long-run. A website that can’t be found is a waste of money; same with a website that doesn’t sell effectively. You shouldn’t have to pay a lot for a well-built website, but you’ll be paying more if it is built in a non search-engine-friendly way or in a way that doesn’t allow you or your designer to make changes to the HTML code on your site.
2. Use keywords
Please - include keywords on your site. The copy (text not contained in images) on your site is the only indicator that search engines have in determining what your site is about and what keywords it should rank for.
If your site doesn’t say “Plumber in Reno, NV” anywhere on your site, then it will never rank for that keyword.
When determining keywords to target, think of what you would type to find a similar service/company/product in your area. When you are searching for Pizza in Athens, GA, you will probably type something along the lines of “Pizza Athens GA” - this works with nearly every industry. The “[industry/category/product] [area]” keyword model is a good example to follow.
Where to place keywords: Once you have chosen a few keywords to target, use them in an intuitive, relevant way in your body copy. It shouldn’t be hard to include them if you talk about your area and industry right on your home page (which is the page you should focus on the most - none of those “Enter Here” pages that waste users’ time and tell search engines that your site is about “Enter Here”).
3. Avoid using Flash
As a designer, this has always been a difficult recommendation to make. I love Flash - I think it’s pretty, and it is also (especially the latest version) versatile, interactive, and makes for some great applications (see jooce.com). But until July 1, 2008 it has not been search-engine-friendly. Google just began indexing Flash, but its SEO value has yet to be tested and determined so my advice is still to only use Flash for logos, banners, and other small graphical calls to action that don’t need a lot of text.
4. Take advantage of title tags
You don’t have to be familiar with HTML to master this one (very) helpful technique: using title tags correctly. Title <title> tags are found towards the beginning of your HTML and all you have to worry about is the text between the opening <title> tag and the closing </title> tag.
Too many websites don’t take advantage of the SEO value that Title tags have to offer; they use titles like “Home,” their domain name, or their business name. I recently read a very good article that discusses using your business name in title tags - it is certainly worth re-thinking.
Research has shown - and the experts agree - that title tags are one of the most important factors that search engines take into account when they index your website.
How to use Title Tags correctly:
Do:
- Make the title tag on each page of your website unique
- Try to keep it under 65 characters (that is all that is visible on search engine results pages)
- Include keywords that are specific to the respective page, and describe the theme of the content on that page
Don’t:
- repeat keywords
- repeat the name of the page (instead of “About Us,” write “About [Company Name] - San Diego Dentist”)
- worry about fitting in every keyword you want to rank for - just add the most important one, or - if there is plenty of room and it makes sense - two
- forget that this is what users see in search engine results - so make it relevant for users (not just for search engines)
5. Promote your site
I am always surprised that my clients want to be found on Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, they are willing to pay me for it, but they haven’t spent the time to add their business profile on Google Local, Yahoo! Local, or MSN Local. Here are the links to these business profiles (this gets you on Maps and business directories for all three search engines:)
It is also helpful to add your business to these directories:
This is Part I of the Web Design Guide for Small Businesses Series.
Note: Here is the PDF Version of this post: Web Design Guide - Part I: SEO Tips for Small Business Websites.
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