Wednesday, June 24, 2009

How To Optimize Your Website

By Justin Harrison

One of the most prominent reasons why people visit internet is that they are looking for some information, product or service. This is probably the reason why search engines like Google, MSN, and Yahoo are used so much by the internet users. Numerous searches are made every hour, and these searches certainly include the information and products that your website has on offer. However, your website needs to be listed in the SERP to make it conspicuous to the internet users. SEO helps you achieve exactly the same thing. It aims at improving the overall ranking of your website. However, there are some negative aspects of SEO as well that can get you asking yourself, ?is SEO the right choice??

Website traffic is related to sales; the more traffic you have, the higher your sales will be. Having a website on the internet is only a first step to getting traffic. You must incorporate SEO for the traffic to come sufficiently. Most web users search for products and services by typing a keywords or key phrase in a search engine. Therefore, you should optimize your website based on the keywords that your customers will use to search for you. It is rare to find users who directly go to the homepage of a website to get a specific product. Most will search for the product and then visit the top results displayed by search engines. This is why SEO is important.

To start optimizing your website, you have to know what keyword or key phrases you should optimize. Your keyword is the word or phrase customers will use when searching for your product. It is not advisable to use the company?s name unless it is a household name among your current and prospect customers. If you do not have an easily recognized or popular brand, it is best of you go for a keyword that relates to your product or service.

To optimize your website, you have to use the appropriate keyword in the appropriate places. The Title tag, images tag ("alt? tag), headings, and content of your website must contain your keyword or key phrase. This will make it easier for the search engine to determine that your website is related to a certain keyword and hence rank you highly for that keyword. Ensure you space the keywords evenly on the webpage so that you are not penalized for keyword stuffing. The keywords should be used as part of a sentence and not alone. This makes it easier for your visitors to read and understand your content, and is a safe SEO practice.

SEO also comes with some limitations that make you think, ?Is SEO the right choice?? You need to have enough time at hand to be able to do SEO every day, for it is an ongoing process. In fact, you may have to spend hours in front of your computer, optimizing your website. Another drawback is that the results are not guaranteed at all. You may end up doing SEO for months, with no luck. Many people also complain of sudden rank falls with SEO. The fall in rank could happen as a result of your competitors doing better, or some changes in the search engine algorithm.

While building a website will expose your company to a wide customer base, it is search engine optimization that will attract and bring traffic to the website. SEO is one of the most important aspects to consider when designing a website.

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