So you
have a website and it is online. What do you do now? MARKETING
Building
a website is only the first hurdle, now you need to make sure that
you get it working for you.
A working
website should:
- provide
valuable information on your product or services
- provide
relevant resources for your visitors
- produce
constant traffic
- increase
or create new sales opportunities
Many
smaller companies and individuals, with limited budgets, do not spend
the time promoting or marketing their website properly. After a while
they start wondering why they are not in the search engines or why
they are not making any sales. Just because you built it DOES NOT
mean that they will come! "You’ve gotta be in it, to win
it!" was a popular phrase for US lottery promotions, but the
same is true for the Internet and search engines. To be "in it"
means to be visible and ranked well (for your selected keywords).
Today
the top two ways people find what they want online are through search
indexes and through links from other sites, so it only makes sense
to invest in marketing within these two areas of Search Engine Optimization
and Link Building.
Search
engine optimization (SEO) is the process of organizing your website
to rank well in the search engines. Your visibility in the search
engines will really determine how much traffic you are going to get.
In general, SEO deals with Meta tags, keywords, internal site navigation,
web page layout, and search engine submissions, etc. If done properly,
SEO can make the difference in any website.
Search
engines are used by approximately 80% of the population online today
to find resources, but they do not index or list all of what is truly
out there...so are lots of Internet resources that will not or cannot
be found through the search engines at all.
Thus
the question: 'If you can't find the resources through search engines
and directories, how do you find them and where do they look?' The
answer leads us to the second marketing technique - Link Building.
Link
Building is the process of finding related/relevant websites and placing
a link to those websites on yours then asking them to link back to
you, i.e. link building is done through link exchanges or reciprocal
links; the process by where both websites link to each other and bring
mutual benefit to each site. By using 'targeted' link building, your
website is one step closer to reaching your market.
The
easier it is for folks to find your website, the easier it is to make
them potential customers. Targeted links in addition to sending targeted
market traffic to your site play a major role in enhancing your rankings
or listings with the major search engines and directories, this is
called link popularity.
Link
popularity is one of the most important factors search engines use
in determining where you will place in the search engine for your
keywords, and phrases, as it helps them to determine how important
or popular your site is. So linking is critical not only in driving
traffic to your site from other sites but with your search engine
placement as well!
Thus
SEO and link building combine in a symbiotic relationship, one that
you can use to your advantage. Targeted link building reaches out
to the online community to find your target audience and build your
network, therefore increasing your traffic, while SEO enhances and
effectively submits your website assets and assists in your search
engine placement.
To succeed
online today, a well designed website, needs to be marketed properly
through SEO and targeted Link Building. If you concentrate on these
two areas of your marketing online, you will put your products and
services before more folks that are looking for what you are offering
and be well on your way to a successful online presense.
Larry
Sullivan, webmster of Linking101, "your link to link building
resources". For up-to-date information, reviews, articles, a
monthly newsletter, and unique link building tools, visit http://www.linking101.com
John
Gracey, CEO of 7th Dimension Sites, Inc. and Your-Link-Popularity.com,
offering hand-tailored link popularity services for your web site.
Get properly linked and attract pre-qualified site visitors prone
to buy what you offer, and improve your search index listings. For
your FREE link popularity consultation or to learn more about linking
visit Your
Link Popularity
