Getting found on the Internet is important, but more important is getting
found for the RIGHT keywords!
You see, I just went to my dentist and I
have to admit, it's been a while since I've been to the dentist but, that's
another story! I really miss my Miami
dentist office!
Anyway, because I hadn't been for a while I needed
the directions again. I had the phone number in my call back list because they
were kind enough to call me yesterday to remind me of today's appointment. So, I
simply typed in the phone number into Google thinking that would pull up their
website. It didn't. Then I typed in North Atlanta Dentists thinking that would
at least pull up his name, it didn't. Then I typed in his name and although I
found him on several directories, I STILL couldn't find his website! (I would
normally link to the website I'm talking about but since I can't find it, I
can't give you the link!)
Now, I KNOW he has a website because the dental
hygienist told me so but I couldn't believe that he was nowhere to be found on
Google or Yahoo! So, you KNOW I had to speak to him about that when I got there.
I told him my story and he told me, in so many words..."Well, my designer said
that people have to pay to be on the top and I don't really want to pay for
that. And my designer also said that my website can be found if you just type in
my name."
WHAT?
So, that means that if someone already knows your
name, they can find you. But if someone is looking for a dentist in Atlanta,
they can't find you. Now, maybe I'm confused but what's the point of having a
website if people can't find you to use you or buy from you or call
you?
Getting found on the Internet is not a huge mystery. It's no secret,
there's no magic formula or trick or program. It's marketing, it's research and
it's work.
If you want to get your website (or someone else's website)
found on the Internet you basically...
1) Make sure the website coding is
clean - that means removing excess css and javascript and getting the website as validated as
possible. And yes, there are websites out there that are 100% validated so don't
think it's impossible!
2) Research your keyword phrases. Look for keywords in programs like Google Adwords, Keyword Discovery, WordTracker and website logs. Research those keywords in
Google. If the allintitle is less than 1000, it's a good keyword phrase to
use.
3) Optimize the website pages. Make sure to include the keyword
phrase in the title, the alt tags, the body of content. Bold it, use it in
links, in
tag. Focus the content around the keyword phrase. No more
than 2 keyword phrases per website page. Otherwise you dilute your content,
confuse the reader and the search engines!
4) Get those anchor text
incoming links to your website pages. Do it via articles, social media
marketing, reciprocal links, whatever! Just make sure the sites linking to you
are legit!
5) Be patient. It takes time but I've never seen a website NOT
get into the top of the engines (using this method) but it does take time.
So, getting found on the Internet is not that much different than any
other business venture. You just have to know what to do and how to do it.
Obviously, not many small business owners are going to do all this themselves,
after all, they're busy trying to run a business! But it's always good to know
HOW the process is conducted, that way you'll at least have an idea if you're
being taken advantage of or not. After all, the Internet still is a bit of the
wild wild west!
If you find you need help with your small business seo services,
contact us today at eckweb@eckweb.com or 678-804-7820.