Search Engine Optimization
In order for your website to be successful, you must get your clients to visit your site. The first way to do that is to promote the name and address of your website. Your web address should be on all of your promotional materials such as business cards, brochures, flyers, print advertisements, and so forth.
The next thing is to make sure that your site is "found" by search engine robots. Robots are programs that search the web for new sites and in the process build the indices used by the various search engines. Robots "read" the lines of code in web sites paying particular attention to page titles, page descriptions, keywords (metatags), and the use of these keywords elsewhere in website code.
Search Engine Optimization ("SEO") is the process of making your website as friendly as possible to these robots. Although it still takes time, perhaps as long as weeks, for your site to be included in the indices of some of the major search engines, optimization can hasten that process.
What Are the Guarantees?
It should be noted that SEO is no guarantee of improved search engine rankings. Since search engine robots “notice” websites by how often they are visited, the key to any optimization is making search engine robots aware of websites. Since this is so critical, let's restate the key points. To make search engine robots aware of your website the following must be done:
- The judicious use of appropriate metatag keywords
- The use of appropriate page titles
- The use of an appropriate site description that is related to not only the function of the site but to the keywords
- The inclusion of code in the page headers directing search engines to read the site pages
- Cross-links from the any partner websites to your site
- And, perhaps most importantly, appropriate marketing to direct users to your site
Rafaill & Associates will take care of the first four items. Only you can ensure that items #5 and #6 are done:
- For #5, request that all of your partners link to your site. After all, you will be linking to their sites and search engines love it when they see cross-links like this
- For #6, make sure that you include your website address in any printed material, any advertisement, and any other marketing pieces that you produce or that you have produced for you
SEO Options
Rafaill & Associates offers a variety of options for SEO from which you can choose. If you are unsure which is best for you, please do not hesitate to ask us. Be advised that we strongly recommend that, at a minimum, a Basic Optimization be done for your site.
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