subject: Free Search Engine Optimization Strategies To Boost Your Business [print this page] Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the least you can do for your business website to show up in online searches. Not surprisingly, good quality SEO services could be expensive and cheap SEO services could be risky. Many such services practice black hat SEO strategies that get excellent results in the short-term but risk your website's expulsion from Google, Bing, and other search engines. Small businesses working with strained budgets find it difficult to hire expert SEO services or buy popular keywords against competition that is prepared to pay top dollar.
Even without spending any money, small businesses can try to increase the search engine ranking of their website. Take for example the option of using more than text to generate traffic. A great opportunity has opened up with Google's Universal Search concept that brings up videos, pictures, maps and more along with the regular search listing. Other free of charge SEO tactics that can help your page ranking in search results are:
1. Registering on Google Local Business Center
Google Local Business listings display your business for various search terms in your local area, with your business name, a map together with directions to your business and contact details and website address if any. Use this option to advertise your business irrespective of it being an e-commerce website or a physical establishment. Be sure to include pertinent keyword phrases in the title and description of your business listing. The information is verified before your registration is approved. Encourage customers to submit their review of your business in the Google Local Business listing and get links from other websites such as trade directories, yellow pages, etc. Yahoo! Local offers similar features.
2. Registering your business on Google Product Search
Build a product feed and include specifics such as description, pricing, specifications, value to customer, and other product information. Make sure you include important keywords, brand name, and product name in the title and description of the product entry. If your product listing includes buyer reviews, it looks more trustworthy. You should motivate customers to leave their reviews by offering discounts or similar incentives.
3. Spread brand awareness with social media websites
Social media networking is the newest trend in advertising a business or a brand. As these websites attract communities of potential buyers, they are an ideal platform to spread the word about your business. Social networking portals such as Twitter and Facebook can divert traffic to your website as "most searched" topics often get picked up by search engines.
4. Using multimedia
The sole objective of search engines is to get customers information relevant to the terms entered by them. Multimedia such as videos, audio files, animations, etc. can also fulfill this requirement. You must ensure that the video title and description includes relevant and popular keywords to make it come up in search results. Here too, customer reviews and feedback helps your credibility. The more people link to the video or mark it as their favorite, the better for your brand.
5. Publishing articles related to latest industry news
Websites such as Google News love to pick up articles on happening subjects. Develop articles on pertinent trending topics and make targeted search terms part of the title. Quality articles are linked to by bloggers and other websites. It helps drive traffic to the site.
These tips should help small businesses jumpstart their SEO initiatives. Without applying basic SEO tactics, a business website cannot attract customers. Even if promotion is not the principal objective of your website, not optimizing it is wasting an opportunity. Websites cannot magically improve sales or add to your customer base. Some selling is a must, and SEO is one of the most cost-effective yet powerful means of attracting traffic.
