SEO/SEM techniques
USA Today published an article in the January 17, '07 edition titled "How to Get Google to Notice You" that I'd like to summarize for you. The article states: "It's a question posed by thousands of small-business owners every day as they seek new customers online rather than through traditional Yellow Pages directories. These days, if a company website can't be found on Google, it basically doesn't exist." There are three main tips that the article gives that are pretty basic SEO/SEM techniques:
1. Have inbound links from high quality sites
2. Have clearly written Web page titles
3. Have descriptive content on your website using good search terms.

Believe it or not, being able to pick good search terms (keywords) to use within your Website copy can be frustrating for most businesses. For example (I'm also using the example from the article) a house painter shouldn't use "painting" or even "house painting" because those terms are too broad. A more specific term would be "interior house painting" or "exterior house painting". You could also try adding geographical references to your copy to target people searching for services locally. Google also offers a free keyword tool to help with this process.

The other challenge is to get high quality links back to your site. When a site that receives a lot of traffic adds a link back to your site, the search engines recognize your site as being a valuable source of information, and thus move your site up further in the search results. One of the best statements in the article (in my opinion) is the following "Attracking links may see daunting at first, but it's easier than you might think. Most local chambers of commerce and trade associations have websites and will link to member websites."

To learn more about how we can help improve your company's online visibility, through Internet marketing, contact us today for a free consultation. Feel free to visit our office located in Lima, Ohio or contact us via phone or Web.