Small business owners are now understanding how important it is to have a strong online presence and the first step is doing this is having a website. But it isn’t enough to have your website published out there in the world wide web. It needs to be found by your potential customers or clients. If it isn’t being found then it isn’t helping you at all.
Here are some basic tips direct from Google in getting your website set-up and ready to rank for a few top quality keywords in your niche so that you will be found in search engine searches by potential customers.
- Make sure your homepage is only pointing to one specific domain eg. www.mydomain.com or mydomain.com. Set up a 301 re-direct from one to the other so that one URL is getting the maximum ranking and it isn’t being diluted between two URL’s.
- Verify ownership of your website in Google Webmaster Tools and sign up for email forwarding so that you receive any messages or notifications from Webmaster Tools emailed to you. This is a free service so it won’t cost you anything.
- Include Google Analytics code on your website so that you can start collecting data. Even if you don’t plan on using it straight away, set it up so that when you are ready to use it you have the data history available.
- Make your website user friendly – ensure it is easy to navigate and the purpose of each page is straight forward and easy to understand for visitors to your site.
- Include relevant keywords in the copy text on all pages. Use keywords that your customers are going to use in search engines to find your website, product or service. And vary the keywords so you have a few variations.
- Every page should include:
- a unique topic
- a unique title
- a unique meta description
- keywords in filenames – lowercase and hyphen separated
- descriptive anchor text – don’t use wording such as “click here”
- Don’t hire SEO companies that guarantee rankings – make sure they use only ethical white hat practices.
- Don’t participate in link schemes or paying for links for the purpose of increasing your rank. Google will penalise you for this.
- Ensure your website is indexable and has searchable text – it may not look the fanciest but you will get better results.
- Ensure your website loads quickly. Don’t have slow loading images on your site.
- Check that you rank for your company name.
- Get involved on the internet to create buzz around your business. Look for targeted audiences or communities through forums, blogs and social media sites such as facebook and twitter. Focus on where your audience is hanging out.
Here is the full video from Google:
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