What good is a web site if you can’t find it?

           To get visitors to your web site, you need a good mix of search engine promotion, good use of special words, and traditional print and media marketing.

Special words and their importance:

The primary tool used to find information on the Internet is a search engine.  The words your potential customer types into the search engine to find information are special words.  The search engine finds relevant web sites by matching these words to ones found in its database.  Search engines generally make databases by simply listing the words used in web sites.  This listing of website words includes, not only the words visible on the site, but hidden words included in lines of programming code that the casual web surfer does not see.  The unseen special words in the programming code are in code  and are very important to search engines

Website Rankings:

Searchers on the Internet will rarely go beyond the first three pages of a search engine’s listing results, so becoming listed in the top twenty or thirty sites on major search engines and directories like Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, or Lycos is very important for a business web site.  Since there are more web pages than people on the planet, you can see that this goal is difficult to achieve. 

Finding good Words:

The first step is to find good words or key phrases.  Research your industry, talk to your potential customers.  The words must be relevant for your site and industry, but they must also be specific words that searchers will use.  It is important to brainstorm search words and phrases that are likely to bring interested visitors to your website.  Sit down with your co-workers and business partners and discuss which words are relevant to the products and services you offer.  Define what you are selling and what makes you stand out in your field.  Compile a list of search words that you feel best represent your company and which you believe people would type into a search engine when trying to find you.  Be specific; avoid generalities.  Ask your customers what terms they used to find you. 

Tools and tricks:

           Some search terms may have fewer people using them, but are used by dramatically fewer competing sites. Don’t use words that may be popular but are not related to your site, as this will only frustrate your visitors. Add variations, plurals, and common misspellings to your list.  The result will be your list of special words.  A current popular maximum for this list is around 800 characters, including all letters, numbers, spaces, and punctuation. 

Periodic performance evaluation:

You should periodically evaluate performance by checking your website.  Sometimes one site will show different rankings for whatever reason.  You can also go directly to your favorite search engines and search for words and see where your site appears, but that is usually more time consuming. 

Resubmission:

Periodically your site should be resubmited to all search engines, especially when you change any words or make site revisions.