Finding affordable business optimization solutions for your Web site can some times be a challenge. Many of the Web site owners I talk to on a daily basis are small business owners that have a limited budget when it comes to advertising and even smaller when they talk about their Web site.

One general consensus is that they all know they need to beef up their Internet presence, but they all believe the only way to do that is by hiring a company who specializes in Internet Marketing or Search Engine Optimization. What many do not realize is that with a little time and effort they can apply some basic optimization solutions to their site themselves and usually for free if they are dedicated to making their Web site succeed.

Being a small business owner myself, I know how hard it is to juggle advertising dollars and get the most advertising for my money. I am going to share with you a few tips on how you can have a successful on-line presence by just putting a little time and effort into your site.

#1 - For Your Visitor

Let’s start by taking a good look at your Web site. We all look at our site so many times; often we overlook the obvious. Pick up the phone or drop an email to some of your most loyal customers and ask them what they would want to see on your site to help them be better informed about your product or services. Ask them their thoughts and comments on your site. Ask them to give you their honest opinion.

Do they see anything that they could suggest to make it better for potential customers?
Is there any specific information they feel would benefit a new visitor?

It is amazing how getting the prospective of your customer will often open some windows you may have never thought of before and the greatest thing it does not cost a dime.

Another great way to see how your visitors are using your site is to apply some click tracking software to your Web site so you can see how people are navigating through your site. It may be a real eye opener to how you have your pages set up. It will tell you just where and what your visitors are clicking on. Visit http://www.Crazyegg.com and apply a small piece of code to your Web site and start tracking your visitor’s clicks you’ll be surprised at what you discover.

#2 – For Your Visitor

While you are taking a look at your Web site have you given your customers easy access to your contact information on each and every page? Many Web site owners overlook this important aspect. You need to make it easy for potential customers to contact you. You want them to be able to find a way to contact you on each and every page and not just on a contact page. You are working with split seconds every time someone lands on your page. Make it easy for them and tell them exactly what you want them to do. Rather then just saying Call Now! Give them specific instructions.

For Example:

Go pick up your phone and call us now to hear more about this special rate. Time is limited so call now at 800-555-1234
Buy today to take advantage of free shipping ... delivered right to your front door in 48 hours!

Little things that you may not think are important usually are the things that result in making a sale or not. One important factor in advertising is trying to find ways to make what you say different then everyone else. Those that stand out in a crowd are usually the ones that are making the sale.

What can you do to make your information different? Think of your competitors and what they are doing then you do the complete opposite.

These are just a couple of Web design and layout tips to help with your business optimization solutions that will mostly benefit your visitor. Now let’s concentrate on a few that the search engines will favor.

#3 – For Your Visitor & Search Engines

You only have 3 seconds to capture someone’s attention so start your business optimization solutions right at your title tag. Go to your home page and make a mental note of your title tag (look in the upper left hand corner of your browser the words listed there are what it says in your title tag.) Now go do a search using your most relevant keyword phrase (what you want your visitors to find you on when doing a search) and look at the results that come up.

Look at the title of each result on the first couple pages. How compelling are they? Do they intrigue you to click on them by reading what is listed there? People are looking for instant gratification and they will read the results and normally will click on those that compel them to do so. For example let’s take a look at these results for coffeehouse:

Out of the following results which would you be more inclined to click on?

Depot Coffee House
Discover a Cup of Europe at Eurotazza® Coffeehouse
DJ’s Coffeehouse
Coffeehouse – Savor the Flavor of Brazilian Coffee

By addressing the instant reaction of your potential visitor you are compelling them to click on your ad by writing a good title but you are also creating a keyword rich
title tag that the search engines will favor.

The first impression most Internet users get of your company is the way you describe your site so use your title tag as the most important part of your Web site.

#4 – For Your Visitor

Pre-qualification of your visitors is one of the biggest problems many companies make when developing a Web site. Say your Web site is about “cell phones” and you’ve set up your site only for the keyword phrase “cell phones.” Do you know how many competing pages are for the terms “cell phones” it is over 246 million?

Even as a Professional SEO I know it’s going to be pretty hard to compete with those kinds of numbers. Let’s say we break the keyword phrase “cell phones” down to the lowest and most detailed search giving your visitors exactly what they are looking for. If I was working on this site; I would be working on pages that are more concentrated around detailed keyword phrases.

• cell phone – competing pages – 246,000,000
• cell phone ring tones - competing pages 494,000
• custom cell phone ring tones – competing pages 225,000
• make custom cell phone ring tones – competing pages 177,000
• make free ring tones – competing pages – 31,700
• star trek ring tones – competing pages – 5,110
• family guy ring tones – competing pages - 1,950
• like to make my own ring tones – competing pages – 3

By spending just a little research time I was able to find some valuable keyword phrases that could be used to open additional windows into a cell phone site. The key is opening as many windows into your site as possible. Once you have given your visitor exactly what they’re looking for you have already earned their creditability and they most likely will spend additional time on your site looking at what else you have to offer.

Take a look at your site. Do you have a separate page for each of your products or services? Are you breaking it down in the smallest lowest detailed search?

Think of it this way …the search engines goals are to return the most relevant results to its users so break down your keyword phrases into the most detailed result and you are bringing very happy visitor to your site.

#5 – For the Search Engines

Is your Web site compliant? A quick check of your HTML code will reveal if your site is complying with the W3C. I would recommend running your site through http://validator.w3.org/ to test your website for compliance issues with W3C.

Here is a short definition of what W3C compliance is;

The W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium and basically, since 1994 the W3C has provided the guidelines by which websites and web pages should be structured and created.

• Compliance help insure accessibility
• Compliance helps insure that your website is accessible from a number of different devices; from different browsers to the growing number of surfers using PDA’s and cellular phones.
• Compliance will also help insure that regardless of the browser, resolution, device, etc. that your website will look and function in the same or at least a very similar fashion.

Being compliant does not necessarily benefit you in terms of SEO at this point, however many of the processes you go through to get compliant code will automatically improve your “on page” factors and it will rule out a lot of crawling/indexing issues.

#6 – For Web Site Exposure

No one knows more about your product or service than you do so take your knowledge and put it down in writing. Nothing will give you more creditability then having a visitor reading something you have written about your industry. Still the power of the written word is priceless.

There are a number of Web sites on the Internet you can submit your articles to along with posting them on your own Web site. Most Web site owners think their Web site is just a place just to list services and company info. What some people forget is most of the Internet surfers do a lot of research before deciding to hire someone for a service or buying a product. Normally when someone is doing research they are gathering as much information they can about the product first. If they’re coming to your Web site reading valuable information about your industry and products they are immediately going to feel you are an expert in your field.

We are in a world laden with advertising, so when writing about a particular product or service by-pass the industry hype and stick to the facts. If your readers think you are writing sales pitches they will instantly hit the back button. Give them detailed information or how to properly use your products something that will be of value to them.

Here is my top list of article marketing Web sites that you can submit your articles to. Remember the most important place for them is on your own site.

• www.SearchGuild.com
• www.BusinessKnowHow.com
• www.ArticleDashboard.com
• www.Buzzle.com
• www.ArticleBiz.com
• www.EzineArticles.com
• www.ArticleCity.com
• www.ArticleAlley.com
• www.ArticleFactory.com

I found a great resource to get your content indexed on Google within 24 hours. Check out http://www.scribd.com . Be sure to read the terms of service Scribd does not like anything that resembles advertising.

#7 For YOU!

Learn, learn and learn some more! One of the best things you can do for your site is to learn as much about search engine optimization and internet marketing as you can. There are a number of free and affordable resources you can use to learn exactly what it takes to perform better in the search engines.

To start with here is a list of Blogs you can subscribe to so you can keep up to date with the latest changes on the Internet:

• http://www.searchengineacademysc.com/blog
• http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
• http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/
• http://www.keiobservationdeck.com/
• http://www.sew-wrc.com/idea-motivator/

A couple of Internet Marketing Newsletters to subscribe to:

• http://www.internetmarketingsecrets.com/
• http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/

Affordable On-line Training:

• http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/
• http://www.sew-wrc.com/

For a qualified SEO Training Center try:

• http://www.searchengineacademy.com

Sign up to receive FREE SEO Tips at:

• http://www.searchengineacademysc.com/seo-tip.htm

There’s no substitute for a little hard work and learning some small business optimization solutions starts right at your computer!

Read how you can apply more business optimization solutions and increase your Web site visibility.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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