SEO Web Promotion
Sunday, August 10th, 2008Web promotion and search engine optimization, or SEO, is the ugly, unglamorous side of web design. It is necessary but invisible to the common visitor. Consequently, new business owners often start out with the driving goal of finding a web design service that will produce a beautiful, glitzy website. The reality of having a new online business is that no one will ever see your site unless you advertise. Unless your web designer has SEO web promotion skills — or works with someone who does — you’ll only end up wasting money.
Another thing that you as a new online business owner might tend to ignore or be oblivious to is the fact that it’s not all about you and your product or service. When was the last time you did a search on “Acme Boat Insurance and Hazard Indemnity“? Even if you do own a boat, you might have instead started with a simple search for “boat insurance”.
The magic of SEO web promotion is that the web developer will “programmed” or tweaked your website to be easily found by someone searching for you offer. The trick behind the magic, however, is understanding just what your potential customer really needs and then presenting it to him in terms he will use while searching. Is it Acme Boat Insurance, the company? Or is it mainly “affordable boat insurance”?
Now, think back about the last time you went looking for something on the web. Were you looking specifically for an animated splash page with snappy music and flashy visual effects? Were you thoroughly annoyed by having to wait on a commercial while you hunted down the information you really needed?
There was a time when the height of website production was the impressive Flash animated interface. But even as bandwidth has increased, the public’s love affair with glitz has settled back into the Internet’s original purpose of transmitting information.
What that means is that visitors to your website are looking for whatever information you are willing to give them for free. Your free information is what holds their attention, so it’s up to you to work with your web designer to write (or select and present) content that is relevant to what your online business sells. If you’re a consultant, you might publish articles about your advice philosophy. Your potential clients will read this and, in some cases, decide that you offer exactly what they need to buy. Those who decide not to take you up on your offer spared you the expense of wasted time.
Finally, remember to put our web site address on all your print media — business cards, stationary, brochures, etc. The ultimate sale will come from people who found you or your web address after seeking out the services that you and other businesses may offer. Sometimes that happens by “word of mouth”. Other times it’s a matter of being found in the search engines. SEO web promotion is the craft of getting your site in front of people who have not yet had the pleasure of receiving your brochure in the mail.
