The very success of your web site is dependent on the number of visitors to your site and whether they are the right kind of visitors . If you are selling from your site or simply giving information, the more interested visitors you have, the more successful the site will be.
If you rely on promotion of your site on the internet, then the biggest source of visitors will come from the search engines. Approximately 80% of a site’s visitors will come directly from a search engine.
It's essential that your site is optimised to come on the first few pages of Google and Yahoo.
Following the three steps below will help you to reach top position
Find out how your customers searchDo the research to find out the search terms your customers are using, and use them yourself in the keywords. Remember that there is a lot of competition out there, so be wise in your usage of these terms. …see Keyword Research Below |
Great ContentTo get people to constantly return to your site, use quality content which is geared to their search criteria. Choose your content well, so that it matches the search engines criteria. …see Optimised Content Below |
Inbound LinksHaving good links to your web site is important as all the major search engines require this for assessment. Build links for your site’s success.
…see Inbound Links Below |
Statistics/Analytics
It's essential that you monitor the visitors to your web site, to determine their profile and viewing habits and how they found your site. In a simlar fashion to offline marketing, where, for instance you put adverts in a series of magazines, it's essential to know which ones are working and which are under performing. Then you are in a position to know exactly where to spend your advertising budget. On the web, the way to do this, is to use a statistical package which monitors your visitors. The statistical package should include some or all of the following:
How your visitors arrived at your web site
How many there are
Their geographic location
Which of your pages were most visited
The pages visited
The search items they used to find you
Which search engine they used to find you
Number of returning visitors
Pages per visitor
Often your hosting provider will include a statistical package for free, but make sure that it is adequate to provide for your needs.
Google provide a statistical package which is free and comprehensive Google Analytics.
Keyword Research
Finding the keywords that visitors type in to find you, is essential to know for your web site to be successful.
Discovering what they are is both an art and a science. The gut feel may seem right, further analysis is needed. You need to develop about 15-20 keywords yourself and then incease this number, usually done best through brainstorming with colleages. Once this is done, you can prune down this number, by weeding out the least relevant and arcane, using statistical analysis. The most effective keywords are those that are popular, but have low competition. At Welcomehand we can do this for you.
At Welcomehand, we provide professional keyword research
Optimised Content
Search Engine Optimised Content can infuse your business with a steady stream of new visitors and potential prospects. Through optimsed content, an online marketing campaign can generate hundreds of qualified leads each month and pay for itself as a result of the increased traffic, page rank and revenue it generates.
At Welcomehand we can take your existing content and turn it into focused search engine friendly copy that increases your website's organic search engine rankings, while not losing sight of your audience or your brand.
Creating focused content is one of the most effective design principles that can quickly establish your brand and communicate not only to your customers, but link-partners or directories that your site is valuable, and an asset to their long term internet marketing strategy.
Seach engines use words, and by choosing the right words, i.e. optimised words, can the search engines determine where to include you in their rankings.
At Welcomehand we can help you write powerful optimised content.
Inbound Links
Link text (the text that is clicked on when clicking on a link) is singly the most important factor when Google determines the rankings for any given searchterm. Similarly, other search engines, as well, use these inbound links when determing the site ranking.
Some engines simply count the number of links coming into a page (inbound links), but Google takes the idea a step further. Each inbound link comes from a page which itself has inbound links. The more inbound links on the linking page, the more important that page is and, therefore, the more important the link to our page is. So Google gives more weight to inbound links from important pages that it does to inbound links from lesser pages.
The idea is that the more pages that link to a page, the more important the page is and it, therefore, deserves a higher ranking than it would otherwise have. Further, if 'important' sites link to your web site, then the higher your ranking will be.
The most effective ways to get inbound links to your site:
Make compelling content the byword for your site. Packing your site full of useful content gets inbound links. When you have a lot of content, webmasters will naturally link to you, because your site will be valuable to them and their visitors. Some examples are articles, tools, tips, useful web links and resources related to your site.Also, you could have a blog that you update regularly with fresh content.
Think about who your customers are and which sites they are likely to have as favourites, within the same industry as you, in their web brower. Then target these web sites, asking them to link to you. Don't just email them, because they will often be inundated with emails, write or phone them. This can be quite time consuming, but is well worth it.
Write articles relevant to your target market, for example "Morrocan rugs ", Morrocan rugs for the English home, the English home, or furnishing an English home. Submit your articles to article directories and web sites that specialise in accepting new article content. At the end of your article, you include a link back to your site, so that interested readers can visit your site after reading your information about "Morrocan rugs for the English home ". Only the targeted reader, interested in "Morrocan rugs for the Enlgish home " will end up clicking through to your web site page designed for that specific keyword phrase or topic. You have just got quality targeted inbound links to your site, simply by writing and publishing articles, from other publishers that will pick up your article from the directory, to place on their site, not only do you get the free targeted direct traffic , but the new links begin to increase your web site traffic ranking.
Get your site listed on online directories. T here are hundreds of online directories, with liberal submission policies. Many of the top directories require you to pay for inclusion or provide a link back to their directory. You can give the link back if you want, or pay if you have the extra money. But there are many directories, including the AllBusiness Directory, that will list your company's site for free.
Many sites feature testimonials from satisfied users, readers or customers. When you come across a great site or have a good online customer experience, send a testimonial, together with your URL, to the site's owner. If they decide to use your testimonial, you may get a link back to your Web site.
Blogs are great for the small business web site, and they can dramatically increase the number of links pointing to your site. First, host a blog on your site and update it frequently. Blogs are viral in nature, and bloggers are in the habit of exchanging links to one another's sites. Once your blog is up and running, submit it to the major blog directories. If you keep it up, you will soon have lots of links back to your site from your fellow bloggers.
At Welcomehand we can help getting inbound links