In my article The Rationale For Search Engine Optimisation I explained the thinking behind SEO. In a nutshell it is necessary that your website, as well as simply looking good, enjoys a constant stream of visitors if the product or service that you offer is going to sell, and sell good.
Understanding the concept inspires one to seek out ways of insuring that the quality inbound links you require in order to achieve respect from the search engines can be placed.
What do we mean by "quality"? Well Google, by some margin the largest and most widely used of all the search engines, operates a ranking system, assigning Page Rank to sites on the web using a complex system of algorithms to determine the relative worth of any particular website.
The precise formula used by Google is a closely guarded secret, and probably changes constantly. However it is known that the single biggest and most important factor in determining Google Page Rank is the existence of good inbound links.
Obviously if you are lucky enough to have friends in high places who will place your links on high performance websites commanding high Page Rank then you will benefit from their existence soon enough. For most of us though the best available option is to place links yourself whenever you can so as to persuade the search engines to notice you and to afford you respect.
One way of doing this is to write articles (just like this one) and place them at article directories that the search engines take notice of. If you take the trouble to identify the best keywords to use within the article, and in particular which to place as anchor text (keywords linking directly to your site) this will improve the chances of your site finding its way onto the front page of Google when a casual user types these words into a search engine.
Another method is to register your membership with well supported internet forums. Please don't be cynical about this, if you register with a forum provided for your use by somebody else it is reasonable that you should be expected to contribute to the discussions on that forum in a meaningful way. Posts as "Yeah" and "I agree" are usually deleted by the moderators of the forum within hours if not sooner. But usually just by registering your URL within your profile and, if permitted, by adding it to your signature, you will have generated a useful link. If the signature permits you to link using anchor text it becomes more useful still.
Thirdly, you can place links from social networking sites. Most people these days are familiar with Facebook and Twitter, but did you know that simply by optimising your Profile on both you leave a useful trail for the search engines to pick up? Include a sprinkling of carefully chosen keywords and there is a good chance that anybody searching for them will be directed to your Facebook or Twitter page.
However Facebook and Twitter are not the social networking sites around. There are literally hundreds of them around the web and although they do not enjoy the same recognition as these two giants they can also serve as a useful repository for inbound links. Some unfortunately use a "No Follow" instruction in the source to ensure the user does not benefit from your links but others do not, and these pages do help you to arouse search engine interest.
Of course this is all inevitably very time consuming even if your technical competence does extend to generating inbound links. This is where the dedicated SEO company comes into play. Here you will be able to delegate the task of building quality inbound links whilst you spend your time concentrating on developing your core business.
SEO companies vary massively both in terms of the service they offer and of the price they charge. You are entitled to assume that the higher the price the better the service but this is not always the case. A telephone number fee does not in itself guarantee that the SEO provider will do a great job or indeed any job on your behalf, and similarly a low-cost business promotion service need not mean a poor service.
If you wish to use an SEO company find out precisely what they are offering first, then keep them to it.
Search Engine Optimisation is essential in today's increasingly competitive and complex market, but you would do well to shop around and see what is best for you and what you feel comfortable with before committing.
Showing posts with label Inbound Links. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inbound Links. Show all posts
Saturday, 5 March 2011
The SEO Trilogy, Part One - The Rationale For Search Engine Optimisation
Okay. So you've built your all singing, all dancing website. It tells us what you do and what you are selling. You have found the snazziest design on the market for your home page. The Facebook and Twitter buttons have been embedded, along with one inviting visitors to "Share This" with 100 social networking sites. Hit the link in the top right hand corner and it plays a tune. It's only a matter of time before the visitors come a-calling in their droves and your product starts to sell like half-price pies at a fatties' convention. Am I right?
Well actually no. Fact is you can have the most alluring, informative, interesting website in the world but unless your potential audience knows it's there then the whole exercise is singularly pointless.
This is why most businesses with an online presence understand these days that their sites need to be optimised. They need to announce their presence to potential visitors rather than waiting for those visitors to find them by chance. Then, and only then, when the visitor has been alerted to the fact that your site exists, will your buttons and bells begin to do their work and sell your product or service to the visitor.
It's pretty obvious when you think about it. Try to imagine your website as a shop. Your shop sells the most amazing products at an unbeatable price. But it is located in an unwelcoming backstreet, has no merchandise in the window and no fascia overhead to give the few people who pass by any hint of what is on offer inside.
The obvious, indeed only solution is to advertise your wares, and I have dealt with online advertising in a separate article. But what is required in essence is to make others aware that you are in the market, and to entice them into your shop.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), although its purpose it to maximum the number of visitors to your site, works on a wholly different principle to conventional advertising. To optimise your site you need to publish it in such a way as to attract the attention of the search engines, the result of which will be a higher listing for your site, more casual callers and hence more customers.
The strategy for achieving this revolves around building high quality inbound links, that is other sites linking into yours which themselves are highly rated by the search engines. As the search engines see it, if a site that links to yours has respect on the web then yours in entitled to some respect also.
In another article I discuss ways of creating these valuable inbound links which build up kudos and get your website noticed. After all if your website isn't noticed, your all dancing home page dances alone.
Well actually no. Fact is you can have the most alluring, informative, interesting website in the world but unless your potential audience knows it's there then the whole exercise is singularly pointless.
This is why most businesses with an online presence understand these days that their sites need to be optimised. They need to announce their presence to potential visitors rather than waiting for those visitors to find them by chance. Then, and only then, when the visitor has been alerted to the fact that your site exists, will your buttons and bells begin to do their work and sell your product or service to the visitor.
It's pretty obvious when you think about it. Try to imagine your website as a shop. Your shop sells the most amazing products at an unbeatable price. But it is located in an unwelcoming backstreet, has no merchandise in the window and no fascia overhead to give the few people who pass by any hint of what is on offer inside.
The obvious, indeed only solution is to advertise your wares, and I have dealt with online advertising in a separate article. But what is required in essence is to make others aware that you are in the market, and to entice them into your shop.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), although its purpose it to maximum the number of visitors to your site, works on a wholly different principle to conventional advertising. To optimise your site you need to publish it in such a way as to attract the attention of the search engines, the result of which will be a higher listing for your site, more casual callers and hence more customers.
The strategy for achieving this revolves around building high quality inbound links, that is other sites linking into yours which themselves are highly rated by the search engines. As the search engines see it, if a site that links to yours has respect on the web then yours in entitled to some respect also.
In another article I discuss ways of creating these valuable inbound links which build up kudos and get your website noticed. After all if your website isn't noticed, your all dancing home page dances alone.
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