1. If you don’t have a site yet, what the heck are you waiting for? It is 2009 for goodness sake. If nothing else, your website can act as 24/7 advertising with your phone number, email link, a few nice photos , hours of operation and info about your business. The longer your site has existed, the more relevance Google places on it. In the world of the web, longevity is rewarded.
2. Put your website address on EVERYTHING. If you have business cards, brochures, a company vehicle (I have been behind many a vehicle and later on checked out their website) the yellow pages, your store front if you have one, flyers, shirts, your children… well, you get the point.
3. Tell all your friends. It is a Catch 22 of search engine optimization – the more people that visit your site, the higher your site gets ranked, the more people visit your site. Hardly fair, but little in the SEO world is.
4. Update your content regularly. Search engines and customers are bored by the same thing all the time (well, okay, the search engine isn’t bored, but the robots and spiders can tell how long it has been since the site has been updated, and they frequently index sites that are regularly changed).
5. Have relevant content on your site. Please get rid of the flash intro. No one cares anymore. Everyone has seen amazing graphics do fancy things. Get to the point. Have actual text on your site. This is what the robots search. Search engines can’t see all your fantastic images.
6. Get relevant links. The more links that come to your site the better, as long as they come from a site that has a connection to yours. But beware of sites that charge for links. Google doesn’t like bought links.
7. Keywords are not nearly as important as you think. And be realistic. How high do you think you are going to rank on Google for the keyword “accommodation” or “shop”? Unless your web site budget is a gazillion dollars, you will need to accept the fact that the days of adding a couple of keywords and getting on the first couple of pages of a search are over. Be specific. Where do you live? Add that to your keywords. Do research. What other sites exist for your keywords?
8. Your Title tag is very important. Pick the right title for your page. Bob’s Place is not a good title. What kind of place is it? Where is it? Who is Bob’s competition and what are their keywords? A better title would be Bobcaygeon Restaurant – Breakfast Food at Bob’s Place. Remember that Google usually only displays the first 63 characters of the title tag, so make sure your relevant words are at the beginning. Oh, and make sure that every page on your site has a different title that reflects the keywords of that page.
9. Hire a professional. I am all for doing things yourself – The Home Depot is one of my favourite stores, but even I know there is a time to call an electrician or a plumber. Someone who has been trained. A good web site designer or search engine marketer really will save you countless hours and headaches and probably do a better job than you can. No offence intended, but this is what they do every day, all day. You have spent how long creating websites?
10. Don’t get frustrated. Ranking on a search engine is not an overnight game. Slow and steady (and follow the other 9 tips!)
This list means a lot to those who have a small business, and those who wants to make a difference online. Keep on posting.