It's the equivalent of putting a postcard in the post office window advertising your services. The more post offices and shops the postcard is in, the better chance you have of being discovered. This is what being discoverable means. This is a metaphor for search engine marketing.
You don't need to be a computer guru to get your head around this. Even if you don't know how to do this yourself, at the very least you now understand what you are trying to achieve, and that is - you want to be found. You want to be found anywhere and everywhere that your customers hang out. When customers can find you, they can buy from you.
In this article I am going to discuss the initial steps that need to be taken on the journey to discovery which makes a website discoverable by search engines which is known as search engine optimization or SEO, using search keywords.
Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN play a major role in discovery and are the place that most of your customers go when trying to find services and products like yours. The words your customers enter are called search terms. Search engines match search terms to websites they have listed, or indexed in their database.
When searching, customers type in a string such as 'cheap flights' and press the search button. Search engines return a list of sites that they think are most relevant for the search term 'cheap flights'. For the purpose of this article, it is sufficient to say that search engines will search through their database for websites containing the words 'cheap flights'.
The words 'cheap' and 'flights' are called keywords. All sites returned will contain these words somewhere on the site. Any website that doesn't contain theses keywords will not be returned, even though it may be relevant. If a site owner preferred the term 'low cost airline' over 'cheap flights', their website would not appear in the results of the 'cheap flights' search - what a pity.
Talk the talk. It's the first thing a website must accomplish to become discoverable and is a major goal in search engine marketing - SEM. Talking the talk means using the search keywords and search terms that your customers use, word for word.
In the example above, any site involved in airline travel needs to include the keywords 'cheap flights' if they have this service to offer, and if those are the words that customers use to search for that service.
This is a new phenomenon in the world of marketing, known as search engine marketing. If you want to be discoverable online - you need to mirror the words that your customers use. You are not free to choose these keywords, because if they don't match your customers search terms - you won't be found. This doesn't apply to global brands because everybody knows who they are and will search for them by name.
Small to medium sized enterprises do not have this luxury. Do not be fooled by the results of searching for your own website address. Yes - you are top of the list - problem is - nobody knows your website address - so their not going to search for it.
Your site needs to be found for the services and products you sell, and the first step to discoverability is to describe them using the search terms and search keywords that customers use to discover them.
Easy Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is a great way to bring awareness of your web site to the online community. Search engine optimization is the process of making your web site more accessible to the major search engines that index and rank web sites each time someone performs a search for a specific word or phrase. If you want to be successful at optimizing your site, read this information and use the tips to successfully market your online business.
Title Tags
The title tag is located at the top of your browser window and is a great place to start optimizing your site. There are several things that you can do in the title tag to make your site more accessible. The first is to use a descriptive title with text that can be understood by people of all reading levels. Using a descriptive title will help people become more interested in your site. You should use the same words in your header that you use in the title page. This will show the search engines that the title is relevant to the contents of the page. Another trick to use with title tags is using a different title for each page on your web site. If you have the same title on every page, the search engines might not index them because they will appear to be the same.
Some savvy internet marketers use keyword phrases and separate them with a bar such as this example:
Home Based Business | Internet Home Based Business | Internet Business Opportunity
Header Tags
When you use header tags, (also known as H1 tags and H2 tags and so on) don't just type random words with no meaning or relevance to your site. Use keywords that are relevant to your business so that your site is indexed appropriately.
Applying these tags ise easy if you're using an HTML editor like NVU or Microsoft FrontPage.
Linking
Linking can be an important search engine optimization tool, but it's important to know how to use links to effectively market your web site. You should link only to search-engine optimized pages that have content that is linked closely with your content. If you want to put links to your site on other web sites, choose sites that are closely related to yours. You should also choose sites that do not have questionable content or purposes.
There are many schools of thought on linking and other unrelated websites do have their benefits as well however, a beginner should avoid linking to them for now.
Content
Use human-friendly content to help the search engines find your site and make it easier to read. Your content should be relevant to the topic of your web site and inform or entertain your audience. If you do a good job at providing interesting and relevant content, people will want to keep visiting your site for information and updates. Content can also help you get ranked higher in the search engine results for particular words and phrases. These search engine rankings are important and are the focus of optimizing your web site.
Submission
If you have a content-rich site that follows the rules of search engine optimization, and you have linked to relevant partners, then you should have no problem getting indexed by the search engines. Each search engine has specific rules and algorithms for determining how sites are indexed and ranked.
Now that you understand the importance of SEO and have the basic information you need, get out there and start optimizing your web site so you can start realizing better profits and build a more successful business.
Both Stuart Atkinson & Rasheed Ali are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Stuart Atkinson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Foreclosure Help, Search Engine Marketing and Web Development. Stuart Anthony Atkinson Cost effective online marketing and PR services, Search Engine Marketing - SEM and Search Engine Optimizatio. Stuart Atkinson's top article generates over 1300 views. to your Favourites.
Center For New Age If you offer a fine product, and support to your affiliates, you will find success. Take advantage of all the internet has to offer, and your profits will rise