Small Business Web Design

Boost Your Business with Local SEO

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:10:00 GMT

Boost Your Business with Local SEO

Local SEO has become an important part of promoting a business online. Now is a great time to consider the inclusion of local SEO services in your marketing strategy.

Photo by The-Lane-Team

It stands to reason that most small business owners are excited by the prospect of presenting their businesses to a global audience, but faster and more affordable results can be achieved by first focusing on opportunities much closer to home.

Local SEO techniques can get your company name, website and business in front of the people most likely to use it. This gives you the opportunity to build a solid customer base and develop a platform for expanding your small business brand to achieve global recognition.

With major search engines working hard to improve local search results, an explosion in the number of location-aware applications and business owners becoming more and more aware of the benefits of search engine optimisation, companies that offer local SEO services are thriving.

There are a lot of local SEO techniques that you can implement yourself, but making an impact isn't easy. Even local SEO experts have to work hard to keep up with all the changes to web search technology, as we've found with our service SEO Birmingham.

If you're confused by the complexities of promoting your business online you should try to prioritize your marketing efforts. In most cases I would recommend including local search engine optimisation in your overall strategy for generating business.

Key Places to Increase Local Search Visibility

As with the broader based topic of small business SEO, local SEO involves a wide range of techniques and an even bigger number of metrics. Three key places that you can gain high local search visibility are Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo Local.

There are millions of people searching these resources each day for products or services near to them or in a specific location. As I've mentioned, faster results can be achieved by focusing on local listings rather than the regular organic listings.

Although Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo Local all offer the opportunity to gain improved search visibility, registering your business with them is only the start. Local SEO is complex and involves many more factors especially if you want to see your business benefit from higher listings and the resulting website traffic.

Search engines don't explain how to top the local listings because that would attract unscrupulous marketers who manipulate results by using 'black hat tactics', but they do offer guidelines, guidelines you should follow closely if you want to get the best results.

There's no doubt that you can boost your business by implementing local SEO. It holds the key to attracting more people that are looking for your offerings and that will want to do business with you. So go ahead, take action! Invest your time or money in local SEO and get above your competitors so that you can make more sales in future months than you've made in previous months.

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The Benefits of Search Engine Optimisation

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:22:00 GMT

The Benefits of Search Engine Optimisation

Most people involved with online marketing recognise that website optimisation plays an important part in their online business strategy, but often have misconceptions about the real benefits of search engine optimisation.

Admittedly the large number of factors associated with search engine optimisation can make the whole process seem complicated but in simple terms search engine optimisation (SEO) is just a collection of methods used to ensure web pages can be found more easily.

Local SEO is becoming more significant if you're targeting a local market and has some benefits even if you're not. We've had to work hard to incorporate the latest local SEO techniques into our SEO Birmingham service and there's no sign of respite.

If you've got a website, or plan to have one, you'll rely on people who visit to help you achieve certain goals and the accessibility of your site can make all the difference. By adopting a good search engine optimisation strategy you can address this need for visitors and benefit in a number of ways.

Search engine optimisation can help you to:

Attract a higher amount of website traffic which can lead to more inquiries or sales.
Attract highly targeted traffic, visitors who are searching for your products or services.
Reduce your reliance on paid advertising and other online marketing techniques.
Increase brand visibility and gain more credibility in your industry or niche.
Achieve a high search engine ranking for your favoured keywords and keyword phrases.

Whether you decide to implement SEO techniques yourself or pay for SEO services it's important to recognise that results will depend on a consistent effort and won’t be happen overnight. However a consistent effort to optimise your website represents a cost effective investment that can definitely compliment your overall marketing strategy.

Search Engine Ranking

Search engines look for information on the World Wide Web and analyze the content of every web page they find to determine the quality of information being provided. The information is stored in an index database so it can be referenced when people enter a related search query.

In order to provide us with accurate search results, search engines use a complexed set of rules known as an algorithm to determine what web pages are about, how reliable the information on them is and how popular they are. Web pages are then given their all important position on the search engine results pages.

You've probably heard people talk about ranking on the first page of Google, This is because the higher the search engine rankings, the earlier a page appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs) which are the results you see listed when you enter a search query.

People rarely check results listed beyond the first few pages which is why it's so important to try and achieve a high search engine ranking. Think about how you search on the web yourself, it's unlikely you ever check as far as page 5 when the results are returned.

Results listed on the first page naturally get a lot more attention than those appearing lower down and the likelihood of someone clicking through to visit a site listed on the first page is incredibly high.

The benefits of search engine optimisation can be considerable but remember that SEO isn't a marketing strategy by itself. Search engines can change the way they operate so there are no guarantees.

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Search Engine Rankings How to Improve Them

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:19:00 GMT

Search Engine Rankings - How to Improve Them

There are countless ways to promote online businesses but few people could argue with a strategy that includes measures to help you achieve higher search engine rankings.

It's a fact - Search engine rankings can help to make your business a success.

As I've already mentioned in my article about the benefits of search engine optimisation, attracting visitors to your website will be a crucial part of its success because featuring prominently on the search engine results pages can bring an endless flow of free traffic.

The search engine ranking of your web pages and ultimately being able to reach the coveted spot of page one on Google depends on a long list of on-page and off-site factors. Here are some of the main on-page factors (those that you can influence the most) that you should consider if you want to improve the search engine rankings of pages on your site.

How Can Keyword Usage Help Search Engine Rankings?

Your choice of keywords for each page is crucial as this helps determine which phrase it ranks for. Search engines place more importance on keywords that feature early on in the main body of the page so it's best if they are used several times in the first few paragraphs.

Try to make sure that your chosen keywords appear naturally so the writing flows. Don't force them in because you can be penalised if they appear too frequently. This isn't difficult if you've chosen a suitable keyword phrase that reflects the page topic and in general try to keep them to fewer than 6% of the total words used on each page.

For this page I chose the keyword phrase search engine rankings and you'll notice it's included in the title of the article. It's also used in the title tag, another key place to include it. This is displayed at the top of your browser but remember only a limited amount of characters are displayed, for example Google only shows 64 characters.

The other important thing about the title tag which is entered into the code of a web page is that it's often included in the first line of your listing on the search engines, so you should try to make it say something that encourages people to visit the page and include your main keyword.

How Can Page Content Improve Search Engine Rankings?

The content that you provide on each page of your site and the way it's presented are both important factors that affect search engine rankings. You've probably heard the saying 'content is King' and there are several things to consider.

Information rich content performs better in the long term, so it pays to provide copy that will help the visitors you're targeting. Although people tend to scan pages rather than read long chunks of written text, longer copy seems to increase search engine ranking. If you examine the first page of Google for any given keyword, pages listed there on average contain more than 400 words.

In terms of the amount of pages, larger websites fair better. Using the principle of providing high quality content designed primarily for visitors, I would advise starting with no less than 10 pages and working to achieve as many as possible. Adding new content regularly is widely acknowledged as a useful way to help get pages indexed and improve the performance of a site.

The use of images helps to engage readers and add to the overall appearance of a website, but use them sparingly. Avoid having a site built totally in Flash, they can look great but rarely show up well in search engine rankings. This may change in the future but for now they don't help from an SEO standpoint.

Content that is highlighted using bolds, italics or larger size text can be recognised by search engines as more important, but as with the inclusion of keywords, don’t overdo it because this could be mistaken as a technique sometimes used by unscrupulous webmasters to try and trick search engines and you could again be penalised.

That should be enough to help you get started, so we'll look at more helpful on-page and off-site factors that help to increase search engine ranking in another article.

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The Recipe for Small Business Website Success

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:19:00 GMT

The Recipe for Small Business Website Success

What is the best recipe for attracting visitors to your small business website and how can you convert a high percentage into paying customers?

Photo by Muffet

Establishing a small business website requires a strategic business plan that most small business owners are unable to develop without professional help or guidance.

Together with knowing how to plan your small business website effectively, it’s important to avoid the common pitfalls that could lead to failure. In today’s competitive market small business websites need to be designed well and promoted effectively in order to produce the desired results.

The most common objective of any website is to generate business transactions. There’s no magic formula, but there are three key ingredients that form the basis of a good recipe.

Mastering the Design of Your Small Business Website

The first ingredient is a website capable of receiving, engaging and satisfying visitors who are interested in your product(s) or service(s).

In an attempt to satisfy potential clients that visit their company website, business owners often put their time, thought and effort into creating a website that is designed with far too much emphasis on their own personal preference or the web designer's artistic aspirations.

This is the reason so many sites look good but fail to produce worthwhile results. I’ve noticed that the instant gratification enjoyed by owners of such sites is quickly forgotten when they realise that the appearance of their site will not bring a stampede of hungry customers rushing to see their masterpiece.

Sure it’s important that your site looks good and portrays a professional image, but not at the expense of other key areas that help to provide visitors with an enjoyable experience. Mastering the look of your small business website is an ongoing process and like a new house, you can always decorate it later.

Concentrate on delivering information rich content that will engage your audience, provide good navigation that enables visitors to move around your site with ease and make sure your website is optimised so that it gains higher visibility across the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

These areas need to be considered and you can make good use of resources such as Google's Webmaster Guidelines, Yahoo's Search Content Quality Guidelines and the standards framework set out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Developing Your Strategy to Attract Website Visitors

Having a strategy to attract targeted visitors to your website is the second key ingredient in the perfect recipe for small business website success.

However well designed your website is it needs to be found so attracting visitors will always be a vital part of its success. Failure to recognise this is arguably the most common reason for small business websites that fail to achieve their true potential.

If you provide unique content, rich with information and related to your niche, you will benefit over time because human visitors and search engines both love it! However, initially you need to spread the word a little and let people know that your small business website has arrived.

Hordes of random visitors will rarely produce many worthwhile inquiries so your marketing strategy needs to include a variety of techniques aimed at attracting targeted visitors. Observe methods being used by your competitors and adopt a broad approach rather than relying too heavily on one or two techniques.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) represents a cost effective marketing strategy for small business owners. As major search engines find more advanced ways to help people find products and services there's much to be gained by appearing prominently in the search engine results pages.

The initial budget that you have for establishing your website should include some that’s earmarked for website promotion. Adopt a mixture of both paid and free marketing methods to attract targeted visitors.

Making It Easy For People to Do Business with You

Finally you need to make it easy for people to do business with you, this could have been included in the first section that addresses the design of your website but warrants recognition on its own.

Having designed a small business website capable of greeting, engaging and satisfying visitors and a strategy to attract targeted visitors, you also need to make it easy for them to take action and part with their hard earned cash.

The structure of your website should make it easy for people to find your sales pages. These need to convey your message clearly, have a strong call to action and include any relevant information that helps to make the buying process smooth and uncomplicated.

Unlike traditional shops, online stores don’t have sales assistants to guide customers through the buying process, although web video presenters come close. You can lose visitors at any time if they experience doubt or confusion so you need to make it as easy as possible for them to do business with you.

Display relevant contact details prominently throughout your website and if possible include a map that shows your exact location. Include a help page to address potential issues and encourage visitors to contact you if they need assistance or require more information.

Make visitors aware of any guarantees that you offer, certificates you hold and payment options you provide. Include information about your terms and conditions, privacy policy and anything else that adds to your company’s credibility. The more barriers you remove the higher your conversion rate will become.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of ingredients for small business website success but if you examine small businesses that are enjoying the fruits of their online activities, you’ll find each of these key ingredients included.

Do you have any tips about how to establish a small business website?

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How to Plan Your Small Business Website Effectively

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 23:53:00 GMT

How to Plan Your Small Business Website Effectively

Companies of all sizes can benefit by having a presence online. If you want to develop a small business website there are two things you should consider from the start.

Photo by @boetter

First let's clarify what I mean by a small business website. I'm referring to a website that belongs to a small business rather than a small website used for the purpose of business. With this in mind, and before you set of in search of the recipe for small business website success, let's look at how small business websites can be planned more effectively by focusing on two key areas from the outset.

Identify the Main Purpose of Your Small Business Website

The first task for any small business owner considering a company website should be to identify the intended purpose of the site. This might sound obvious, but warrants careful consideration because the overall design of any website needs to be geared towards achieving specific aims and objectives.

All too often you see small business websites that look good, have all the bells and whistles, but fail miserably when it comes to serving their purpose within the overall business strategy of a company. This is often because they haven't been designed with the main purpose of the site in mind.

You might plan to use your website to sell products or services, provide information for existing customers, build credibility for your organisation, or maybe you just want to raise the profile of your existing business to attract more offline inquiries.

By establishing the main aim and objectives of your small business website and planning your site with these objectives in mind you can increase the chance of producing results that help to drive your business forward.

Identify Which Market Group Your Business Website is Targeting

In the same way that you need to identify the main purpose of your small business website, you also need to identify the group or groups of people that you plan to attract. Consider how important each group will be in relation to achieving your goals and think about what their expectations of using your site will be.

The internet is a key marketplace for niche market goods and services, small business web design should aim to meet the needs of the market being targeted. This means profiling your target market to gain a clear understanding of the content, services and functionality that you'll need in order to create a good user experience.

Small business websites can be much more than just a platform for promotion and sales, they can help you build and improve relationships with existing customers and enhance the service that you already provide, so take time to research your market and the demographic of your target audience.

Things to Do

If you stop to think about the list of benefits your company could enjoy by having a successful website, it becomes clear that it is worth doing your homework before you start the search for a company that provides web design for small businesses.

Establish the main aim of your site, make a list of objectives that will help you achieve this aim and research your market thoroughly so that you can identify the groups of people most likely to be attracted to your small business website.

Check that there is a demand for your product or service, make use of resources such as your local chamber of commerce, identify how you can reach your target market, compile a detailed list of demographic and economic data and study how your competitors make use of their websites.

Establishing the clear purpose of your small business website and identifying your target market before approaching a web design company will help you to negotiate a small business web design package that is cost effective and geared towards helping you achieve your objectives.

The web design service that you choose should be able to use the results of your research to help them design a small business website capable of attracting and engaging people who are likely to want your product(s) or service(s).

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