Search Engine Optimization

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  It’s a general term that encompasses many different strategies that can be used to rank higher in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo! SEO helps your site get noticed in the search engines so that people who are searching for you can actually find your site. There are several powerful strategies we can use to launch your site to the top of the major search engines.

Find The Right Keywords

The first thing we want to know is…what keywords are people typing into the search engines to find items like the ones on your web site?  You don’t want just any visitors…you want targeted visitors who are looking for what you have to offer.

The first thing we’ll do is come up with a list of keywords and phrases that we think potential customers would use to find your items.  Once we have a good list then I’ll use several powerful keyword research tools to find out how many people are searching for these keywords and how many other sites we are competing against for the top 10-20 search results for those key words. Many times, this keyword research will uncover new and unexpected search terms that we can target as well.

Now we know what keywords people are typing into the search engines to find items like the ones you offer.

Use Those Keywords

The next step after we’ve found those great keywords is to use them.  We want to use them in your product descriptions, in your page titles, page descriptions, file names, picture names…anywhere and everywhere!  Because of the integral nature of this process I generally recommend doing this at the same time I’m developing a web site so that when I’m naming pages, files, etc. I can integrate these keywords into everything as I go.  Of course, you also have a part to play in this because you’ll be writing your product descriptions using these same keywords.

Link Up

Now that your site has all those targeted keywords integrated into it, it’s ready for the search engines.  But you still need some links.  In cyberspace, a “vote” is cast for your site every time another site links to you.  It’s basically a popularity contest, but not every vote carries the same weight.  The search engines rank you according to the company you keep.  They use something called “Page Rank” or “PR”.  PR is a number from 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.  PR is accumulated as web sites link to you and as your site has been on the web a long time.  Every site on the web has a PR number assigned to it and the higher their PR number the more popular they are.  And the more popular they are, the more that link counts towards your popularity.  So…the goal in this step is to get popular sites to link to yours.  This is a very important step on your way to the top of the search engine results.

Watch Your Ranking Climb

Now that we’ve optimized your site with all the right words for the search engines and have gathered 15-20 good quality links we can begin tracking your site’s rank.  Google accounts for at least 40% of all search engine traffic.  They are also fairly slow at ranking a new site and it can take 6 months to start placing up in the top couple pages of search results in the Google search engine.  So how do you know where you rank?  Do you have to do a search for all of your keywords on all the major search engines every week?  No, thankfully not!  I have software that will automatically query each major search engine for each of the main keywords we are targeting for your site and report where you rank for each keyword.  Upon request, I can email you a report every month so you know exactly where you stand and can watch your site climb to the top. 

Track Your Visitors

So we’ve finally worked your site up to the top of the search engine rankings so you’ll be getting quite a few visitors now.  But what do these visitors think of your site and how many of them are buying from you?  This is where web statistics are invaluable.  You need to know how many visitors are clicking away after viewing only one page of your site.  How many are visiting which pages on your site?  And how long do they spend on your site?  These are all important things to know so you can make the most of the visitors you are getting.  You can always change your wording on product descriptions and your home page if it isn’t catching people’s attention.  You can see which products draw the most attention and which pages hold your visitor’s attention the longest.  And perhaps most importantly, you can see where your visitors are coming from and even which keywords they typed into the search engines to find your site!  With this information in hand, we are in a position to tweak your site in many different ways to maximize the actual income you are receiving from your site.

Reap The Rewards

Now we’ve done more than 90% of small e-commerce sites to make your site successful. We’ve worked smart to set your site apart from the rest of the many web sites out there and you can expect your traffic and business to grow over time as the changes we’ve made pay off.