Simply put, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) allows you to draw traffic to your website by using terms (known as keywords) on your website that are most frequently used in online searches for your industry, products or services. Used well, SEO causes your website to be among the first "hits" on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Powerful as SEO is, it can only deliver the visitors to your website. Your website must deliver what your customers are looking for, once they arrive there. SEO only increases business when your website powerfully presents your company, its products and services to potential customers.
In retail terms, using SEO is similar to having the best site in a shopping mall. That business has plenty of visibility and foot traffic, but those factors do not guarantee the business will succeed. The shop itself must draw the right customers in and offer the products those customers are looking for. The business--despite its great location--can fail.
What can you do to be sure that the potential customers SEO delivers to your website become real customers?
Here are some suggestions.
1. Know your customers. Know what appeals to them and the terms they use when talking about your products and services.
2. Design your website to include images, color and text that will appeal to your potential customers.
3. Make it easy for people to find what they are looking for on the site via menu selections and internal links. You may want to have links into your site from several of the key terms used for SEO.
4. Keep your home page simple and direct. The purpose of the home page is to introduce your company and product. Use the home page to establish your identity and credibility and to lead a visitor further into your website.
5. Begin building a relationship. Visitors to your web page may simply be surfing the web or gathering information for a future purchase. Give them a reason to bookmark and return to your site.
SEO is merely the beginning step in creating an internet business and relationships with your customers. The website itself provides the means to establish connections with you visitors and to build your online business.
We want to assure that every blog post in this series provides you with tangible suggestions and ideas for building or improving your website. Please share your ideas, comments, questions and suggestions with us through the comments down below or email Judy directly at
[email protected].
Judy Cobb is an independent writer and business writing coach whose clients have included Parsons Engineering, Mattel Toys, The Los Angeles Times and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has specialized in developing training materials for instructor-led courses as well as interactive online courses and websites. She holds advanced degrees from Columbia University and Stanford as well as an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management.
Thanks for reading. Jason.
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