The most basic question is often the best question. And this is also a question that my brother-in-law asked. My brother-in-law said after listening to a lot of words about SEO he still didn’t understand the value of it or why the proposed fees were so high. Might I help him understand?
To keep it simple and direct, I tried this analogy.
Almost any website places your business in the “white pages” of the search engines. Where you can be found, but only if some one is looking specifically for your business by its name. So you are pretty much lost. And like the regular white pages in the phone book it has little marketing value.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization which is about marketing your business using the search engine. Or in other words it is like placing your business prominently in the “search engines’ yellow pages”. Where your business can easily be found and chosen by people searching just for the services you offer and not needing or even knowing your name.
To get more prominent placement in the search engine yellow pages doesn’t take a lot of money. Or arcane difficult to learn knowledge. It just takes a little awareness and planning.
As I have recently outlined in some previous posts here, it only takes a website that is structured to be receptive to search engines and content that is relevant to what your target market is seeking. If your website presents your business well to the search engine, the search engine will present it more prominently to anyone seeking what you have to offer. And unlike the phone book yellow pages … at no extra charge.
So if marketing is important to you, require that your website provider demonstrate in an easy to understand format that they they offer can provide quality “yellow pages” search engine results. Why have a website if people never see it?
Related posts:
- BluDomain and the new Kertesz2 – like peanut butter and chocolate together for an SEO treat
- New website for custom woodworker and cabinet maker Don Ragland of Austin Texas
- Use your blog/website’s unique properties for search engine marketing
- Another perspective on SEO for Wedding Photographers
- Proof – Site structure is your best SEO investment
About Marc
Mark,
The yellow pages is a great analogy. I agree it is very important to have your website optimized for the search engines.
The issue I run in to is the search engines are always changing the way they look for information. Because of this, we the website owners are always behind the curve. Instead of being in a proactive position we are in a reactive position. This gives us a natural disadvantage.
The only thing I know of that works to raise your ranking in the search engine is consistently making additions and changes to your website. This is the reason blogs have become so popular. They are a place that people can make regular changes to their website without loosing the “bilboard” info of services and contact.
The other thing that a person can do to increase their listing is publish publish publish. Participate in any conversation that is about your expertise. The more you push your name out on to the internet the higher your ranking will rise. This is due to the fact that the search engines will just see more information that you authored.
So I guess chasing the search engines is an option but I think the best option is to participate participate participate. The more you take part in the conversation about your expertise the higher your ranking will rise organicly
Thanks David. But the search engines really don’t change that much, their goal has been constant … return the most relevant results to their search customer. There is no chasing and optimizing that really works. You can’t overcome poor design. You need a website structured to be search friendly and as you point out CONTENT or information. And as you point out blog engines do it best and simplest.
Which is why I use, advise and provide full websites built on blog engine platforms.
ps – to me what is really sad is when I see people hope that they can find just the right SEO advice to keep a Flash based site listed in the search “white pages”. Being in the white pages type search results should be automatic.
People are looking more and more online. Everything points to that. It’s no longer getting your name out there but your brand. David is right about getting into the conversation and letting people know that you are out there. That’s through comments in blogs, twitter, FB, and any other social network you can contribute to. It’s all about valuable contributions. Which is the heart of value enriched networking.
Good points, Peter.
You have a nice blog/website too!