5 Important SEO Tips to Get Your Website Noticed

Sure, having an online presence is important, but how important? Well, during the holidays people will be flocking to the internet and those who are looking for a service of your kind will either find you, or they won’t. But that’s up to you.

The much-watched “Cyber Monday” is an e-commerce statistic similar to the first day after Thanksgiving, but lands on Monday when people are back in the office and really feeling serious about the impending holidays. According to comScore, Inc. a research firm that tracks digital activity, Cyber Monday online retail spending hit a new record this year at $733 million. That’s a 21 percent increase over last year and the busiest online shopping day on record. Not only that, but they anticipate that the next couple of weeks’ total will surpass $800 million. That’s quite a few folks online.

So the big question is, how will they find YOU? Here are 5 quick tips on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to help you get your website visible and accessible so that those online spenders find you fast.

1) Submit your site to online directories. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But it’s amazing how many businesses just have that “if you post it, they will come” attitude about the search engines finding their sites. Be sure to hit the biggies: Yahoo!, Google, and MSN, but don’t forget those smaller directories as well.

2) Get Linked. Once upon a time it was all about just having the right keywords, but that has changed. Now search engines implement complex algorithms based on a variety of factors, and one of those is the quantity and quality of sites that link to yours. Not sure who is linking to you? Here’s an insider secret. Go to Yahoo! and enter the words “linkdomain:” and your website’s domain name. For example, “linkdomain:yourcleaningbusiness.com You’ll find who links to you.

3) Keep Content Fresh. The more often you refresh your content and add new material, the more often the search engine spiders will find you. This is much easier that most businesses think. Update company news, add reviews on your products and services, change your testimonials. Put your online newsletter on your site. They are tons of possibilities.

4) Write an article. Odds are that you have enough experience in your trade to come up with a pretty useful article for your industry. Whether it is geared toward your potential customers or your colleagues in the businesses, you can distribute it with a link back to your website and increase the probability of visitors to your site. There are plenty of online services that will distribute the article for you or you can promote it to an association or professional group within your specialty.

5) Use Your Words. Do some research to find out what the hottest keywords are for your industry. Make sure you use them appropriately in your site, but don’t overuse them. Relevant and applicable keywords that are carefully chosen throughout the text (and the code) of a website are important to make sure the spiders index your site correctly.

So remember to take advantage of this holiday season and make sure you come up in the searches. Stay tuned for even more useful tips on getting the most out of PPC (pay per click) campaigns.