We’re having a great time putting together Rapid Development Web Sites for our small business clients, but since many of these small business also have small budgets, they often don’t want to spend the time or money on search engine optimization techniques. Unfortunately, the “if you build it, they will come” philosophy doesn’t work too well on the web.
 
The fact is, up to 80% of web users begin their surfing at a search engine. Without making the effort necessary to capture these visitors, small businesses are forfeiting tons and tons of traffic each and every day.
 
According to interactive ad agency Web Ad.vantage of Havre de Grace, Maryland, simply landing a second or third page ranking can increase your traffic by up to nine times. A top ten ranking can lead to an additional 600% traffic increase. This results in an average 42% more sales within the first month of a top ten listing and nearly 100% more sales the second month.
 
And the best thing about driving organic traffic is that, for a small businesses, the techniques can generally be implemented in-house. Want to start doing some of your own search engine optimization? Follow these steps:
 

1. Start with an SEO audit.

Get a professional SEO audit to show you what’s currently working on your web site and what needs to be fixed. Most SEO agencies and some web design agencies perform these audits for a minimal fee. This will provide a great roadmap as you prioritize your next action steps.
 

2. Do your keyword research.

We often work with small businesses who have never given any thought to keywords or how their prospects might search for them on the web. The entrepreneur might tell us that his prospects would probably look for “blue plastic widgets” to find him or his web site – and yet the site isn’t even close to being optimized for blue plastic widgets. Do your research before doing anything else, and have a plan for tracking and logging your keywords on an ongoing basis.
 

3. Know what to do with your keywords.

Once you’ve done this keyword research, you’ll need to incorporate those words into your site. Use the keywords in your headlines, in your title tags, in your body copy and in your URLs if possible. Be careful not to go overboard so it doesn’t appear as if you’re keyword stuffing or spamming.
 

4. Create a plan for writing copy.

The search engines love fresh, up-to-date content. How many pages of new, optimized web content are you prepared to produce each week?
 

5. Get comfortable with your web analytics program.

Find an analytics program that works for you. Most hosting companies offer some type of log program; there are professional analytics programs which offer a wide variety of features; there are even great free programs available. (Personally, we use a combination of programs.) Use your analytics to measure your SEO results and make any necessary changes to your on-going strategy.
 

6. Don’t neglect your off-line tactics.

Off-line marketing is still a great way to drive traffic to your web site. At Modern Image Communications, we use postcard marketing, free report marketing, off line newsletters, etc to drive traffic to our site. It’s always a good idea to use separate tracking URLs so you don’t get a skewed measure of your SEO results.
 

7. Be sure to allocate enough time.

You’ll need time for training as well as time for ongoing implementation. Work it into your daily routine just as you’d do for marketing or accounting activities. Create a daily, weekly and monthly strategy. And remember, certain seasonal content may require additional time to coordinate.
 

8. Prepare for on-going training.

The search engines are constantly changing their algorithms, and you’ll need to have a plan for staying on top of these changes. Take a few classes on SEO, subscribe to industry newsletters, consult the Google blogs. Do what ever you can to stay abreast of all the changes that occur.
 
Once you create a strategic plan, you’ll see that your ongoing search engine optimization can be done in-house. You’ll need to dedicate a little time and effort, but your increased traffic will be well worth it.
 

Additional resources:

SEO Guidebook

Rapid Development Web Sites

You Tube Traffic Report

Optimize Your Site For Yahoo – Free Checklist

Optimize Your Site For Ask – Free Checklist

You might also be interested in:

• What is Search Engine Optimization
• Affordable SEO – Optimizing Your Website for Google
• Search Engine Optimization Plan in 6 Easy Steps
• What is Google Analytics?
• Using Anchor Text to Draw in Website Visitors

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Small Business Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.