Is your website working for you?

So you’ve finally decided to get a website for your existing business – now what? The site looks great with lots of great graphics and content about your business yet you still can’t seem to get on page one or two or even three when you do a search. Without professional Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it’s unlikely that your client base will ever increase. Unfortunately, it is more likely that being on the net will simply make you vulnerable to unscrupulous individuals or companies looking to “cash” in on your good reputation.

The right SEO plan will not only help you improve your ranking with search engines, it will also protect your business’s identity, reputation and brand. There is no question that SEO is a complex undertaking and if you want positive, measurable results, it is a field that is best left to professionals who understand how to maneuver through these complexities. There are several key factors that will come into play when any SEO plan is put into place.

1. The Importance of Keyword Research – Although you may have developed content on your site that uses all the right industry jargon, it may not be the words or phrases that people use when searching for information about the products/services your company provides.  If, for example, you sell high end kitchen accessories but have not used words like utensils, kitchen gadgets, serving platters, juicer, etc, people searching for these items will probably never find you.
2. Meta Descriptions and Page Titles – Every page of your website must have a specific and accurate title and meta description in order to achieve a high ranking in search engine results. The title and meta description of each page act as a form of “advertising” for that page.
3. Search Engine Indexing – Your SEO professional will be able to create and XML or HTML sitemap for your website.  Links from other appropriate websites will help your site rank higher and help you get indexed.
4. Quality and Original Content – It is critical that the content on your site be relevant, of high quality and not repeated over and over again on every page of your site. When search engines detect content that is the same on several pages, it will only view one as original and the rest will be deemed as a duplicate and is considered low quality resulting in a lower ranking.

Of course there is much more to achieving positive results from any SEO campaign than the points mentioned above. Constant monitory is critical to ensure your site maintains a high ranking at all times. This monitoring is also essential in ensuring that any negative posts that may appear in relation to your business or its employees is caught and dealt with immediately.