How to Get Your Web Site Found by Search Engines

By Ron Castle

Your site has to be designed for what searchers want to know about your business.

Pretty Web sites with poor performance are more than typical, especially for small companies that do not have a household brand or company name. Unlike Hollywood, it takes more than looks to be successful on the Internet. Your site has to be designed for what searchers want to know about your business, a process known as search engine optimization or, more recently, search engine marketing.

Search engine optimization, a.k.a. SEO in Internet industry jargon, is the key to getting your site found by search engines. SEO is the art and science of creating Web page titles and keyword-rich page copy that targets the folks to whom you want to sell your products or services.

If you are targeting the wrong search phrases and keywords, you will not connect with potential customers. How do you know what people are searching for? Keyword research! There are several search engines on the Web whose sole purpose is to track the search phrases that Internet surfers type into that little search box at Google, MSN Search, Yahoo, AOL Search and other search engines.

So, if you are in the widget business, you might discover that there are 400,000 Web sites on the Internet that mention "widgets" in their pages. You might also discover that there are a significant number of searchers looking for "blue widgets" and "green widgets", which are your specialties. Since there are fewer competing sites for "blue widgets" and "green widgets," you have an opportunity to rank highly for those keyword search phrases.

• Define your market strategy and targets based on what you sell or do to determine the appropriate keywords and search phrases.

  Define your market strategy and targets based on what you sell or do to determine the appropriate keywords and search phrases.
• Rank your targets in priority order.
• Research to find keywords and search phrases that fall within your market strategy and that people are actually searching for, as well as researching related phrases that have a low KEI (keyword efficiency index), an analytical method that reveals keyword search phrases that have low competition on the Internet.
• If your site is already online, you should conduct careful analysis of whatever ranking success you may presently have. The idea is to preserve whatever good rankings you have and improve on them. You may have accidentally done something right.
• If you have an existing site, you want to be sure your site has no traps that will prevent search engine spiders and robots from properly indexing or reading it. For example, the most important search engines loathe entry or "splash" pages that are done in Flash. Sites programmed in frames may also have problems being properly or adequately indexed and some redesign may be required.
• If you are designing a new Web page, you can do it right the first time and avoid the expense of rework and redesign.

If you want to be found, writing for search engines should come first.

Structure your Web page titles, descriptions and keyword-rich page copy so that it tells your story in an acceptable way for your readers, but most importantly for the search engines. Copywriting for the Web is different from any other type of copywriting. If you want to be found, writing for search engines should come first.

The writing may not be as eloquent as the copy in your brochures or on your existing site. Or, it may be better! Eloquence should be the primary focus of your print catalogs or PDF downloads. Search engines should be the primary effort of your Web writing. Good Web writing is a rare specialty. You may want to look for a pro to help you.