Consider this: Your child gets a huge set of Legos that when put together resembles a Castle. If you, an adult male or female, were told to put the set together and your business would improve (more potential customers would find your website which statistically means more sales) but . . . there were no instructions included, how long would it take you to put the castle together? Do you think you could do it? Would you take one look at the daunting heap and shake your head as you walk away thinking to yourself, "There is no possible way, so why waste my time trying?" Would you give up without even trying!?!

Do you remember how good it felt just to have a website? Did you build it yourself or pay someone to do it for you? It really doesn’t matter. What matters now is that no one is visiting your website. Why? How do you go about letting potential customers know you are online and ready to do business?

Statistics show that 90% of individuals begin their online time by searching on search engines. They start by inputting a word or phrase to start a search. These search words are called "keywords". Keywords are a good place for new website owners to start the optimization of their site. Research what keywords potential customers use to find a business like yours. Make a list of all the keywords you can find that pertain to your business. It is these keywords that you will do some culling to rid the list of those that are the most common. You know the ones that get mega amounts of searches. Narrow them down by going to Google and type in "Adwords keyword tool" and click on the link. In the space under "Enter one keyword or phrase per line" type in a keyword you have identified and click "Get Keyword Ideas." You will want to look at the column that shows the search volume. You want those keywords that are getting volume under say 15,000. It’s these keywords that you want to try to dominate on the major search engines to try to improve your page rank.

It is a known fact that online searchers don’t usually search beyond the third page for a given keyword. There are only ten listings per page that come up when a search is done using a keyword or keyword phrase. Only 10! This translates into only 30 listings ever being viewed by online searchers. There are potentially hundreds, even thousands of listings that could and do show up for a search term. Do you see why it is so important to rank highly on top search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing to name just a few.

What does it all mean in terms of your website? It means you have to either hire a company to try to improve your rank on the major search engines or you have to try to learn how to put it all together on your own. So . . . take another look at that heaping, daunting pile of Legos. Now decide how badly you want or need those customers or should you shake your head and walk away? Will you give up without even trying?