Drive Traffic To Your Website Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an iterative process that includes cycles of competitive research, website changes, waiting for the search engine spiders to crawl the website, evaluating the resulting rankings, and making more changes. SEO is not a one-time effort, rather SEO is done on a continuous basis. To ensure your website gets visitors, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be performed for at least several months. SEO results don't happen overnight.
Potential customers find your website on the Internet by typing keywords (like "website design seattle") into a search engine. Search engines often find millions of websites that contain the keywords. In order for clients to find your website among the millions returned by search engines, you need to rank somewhere in the first few dozen. How do small businesses get high search engine rankings? By hiring an SEO specialist to perform Search Engine Optimization(SEO) on their websites.
 There are two main ways to generate traffic to your website using search engines: organic search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising. "Organic" means the search engine rankings were generated naturally by the search engine's own ranking algorithm. This is in contrast to paying money to the search engine company to have high rankings in the "sponsored links" area. To read more, follow this link to a great article entitled "Organic SEO or Pay-Per-Click Advertising - Which Should You Choose?". The SEO article notes that many searchers know the difference between paid and organic (unpaid) search engine results, and report they trust the unpaid results more. The article found that people are six times more likely to click on the organic unpaid search engine results! The message: Organic SEO efforts may be more cost effective than pay-per-click ads. (I also have had a horrible experience with pay-per-click ads on Citysearch...and I would never have known I was being scammed by them if I didn't look carefully at my own website tracking info.)
There are three major search engines: Google™, Yahoo!™ and MSN™ who hold 60%, 22% and 12% of the search engine market respectively (data from Hitwise.com). Although all three search engines try to find websites that match the entered keywords, they all use different algorithms, or rules to rank websites.
I've done SEO on my own website so let's take a look at my own website's search engine ranking for the words "website design Seattle" on Google™, Yahoo!™ and MSN™.
Aldebaran Website Design's ranking is #4 on Google™, #1 on Yahoo!™ and #13 on MSN™ (these fluctuate over time - just staying in the top ten of Google is a constant challenge!).
You can see that SEO works because these are fantastic search engine rankings, especially when you consider that there are over 5 million websites that are indexed that have the words "website design Seattle" used somewhere on their pages - and that my competition consists of other website designers who are experts in search engine optimization (SEO). Remember, these are not paid rankings , these are natural (organic) rankings from my own search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and the search engine's algorithm.
It wasn't because I paid for them, rather it was due to SEO effort: a combination of website architecture, content, inbound links, and patience:
- Your website must be designed so that the search engine "spiders" that crawl the web can find their way around your website easily. Good SEO relies on good website design practices.
- Webpage content should be designed around keywords that have been selected based on your business and your clients. Keyword choice should be based on solid SEO research, not guesswork.
- Your website content, including "keyword density" must be better than your competition, but still readable to your human audience. SEO is for software algorithms, but your website is primarily for humans ...don't forget this - strike a balance.
- There are many high quality, relevant websites that link to your website. SEO involves creating legitimate inbound links to your website.
While no ethical website designer who offers SEO can promise a specific SEO ranking, I am confident I can help improve your current website's search engine rankings, leading more customers to your website and to your small business.
Contact Aldebaran Website Design in Seattle about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for better search engine results and more customers for your Seattle small business!
Google™ is a trademark of Google, Inc.
Yahoo!™ is a trademark of Yahoo!, Inc.
MSN™ is a trademark of MSN, Inc.
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