Search engine optimization and Your Business

If you have a website for your business then you've probably heard the term search engine optimization. Even then you might be a little confused on what exactly it means. Very simply put, search engine optimization is a way to increase traffic to your website without the need to pay for outside marketing or advertising services that bring clients to you. In other words, it works by making your site easy to find when a potential customer types a keyword or phrase into a search engine that relates to what you do.

The reason search engine optimization is so important is because the majority of internet users won't click on advertising banners, e-mails, or paid links for fear of spyware attacks and computer viruses. Those users feel more comfortable searching for what they want on their own; and search has continued to show that the vast majority of these ‘searchers' will expect to find what they are looking for on the first page of their search results. Proper search engine optimization can put your business website on that first page regardless of how big or small your business is.

The Internet is one arena where every business is virtually on the same playing field. Sometimes, customers will actually prefer to visit smaller businesses that are more targeted to their needs than larger ones with hundreds of pages of product and services to dig through. If you optimize your website, you can increase your chances of these customers landing on your page instead of that of a big retail chain.

There are several things you can do to optimize your site. Compare this checklist with your own website and see whether there are any areas that you might need to work on in order to achieve better search engine optimization.

• Keywords and keyword phrases - Placing single keywords or phrases in your meta tag as well as throughout your website in places where they are natural and make sense.

• Cross linking - Ensure that every sub page of your website links back to the home page. It is also a good idea to offer links to your home page on other relevant websites and blogs. Be sure to return the favor but don't go overboard and look like a link farm, this will only hurt your rankings.

• Product descriptions and articles - Make sure that your product descriptions include search-friendly keywords and phrases in them, and add informative articles about your business throughout your website. These articles can be about anything that pertains to your product or service, but be very careful not to overuse your keywords because if it seems unnatural the search engines will recognize it as "stuffed" and will lower your rank, or even ban your website altogether because of it.

The good thing about search engine optimizations is you can do it yourself or you can choose to outsource it. It all depends on your budget as well as how fast you would like to achieve your results. Doing it yourself if cheaper but is likely to take longer before you start to see results. Getting a profession search engine optimization expert will ensure you take advantage of best industry practice.