Boosting Your Web Site Visibility

Question: I've advertised, hung signs, bought directory listings, sent direct mail and built a darned nice Web site that cost us a few bucks. But sometimes I still feel like we're invisible. How can I pull more prospects? I'd especially like to see better results from our Internet investment!

Answer: Visibility is vital. If prospects don't know who or where you are, you're sunk. A well-done Web site offers great potential for boosting your business visibility. But with a zillion sites vying for clicks, it's easy to get whooped in the visibility derby.

Search engines are your secret weapon and the key to Internet success. Every day, millions of people use search engines by typing in words or phrases to describe what they want. If your name pops up in the results list at Google, Yahoo!, Lycos, HotBot, AOL Search, AltaVista, MSN, Ask Jeeves, Excite or any of dozens more like them, the benefits are golden.

The art of making that happen is one of the newest skills small business owners are now learning. It's called "search engine optimization" (SEO). SEO is all about increasing your online visibility by creating just the right keywords to describe what you offer, organizing your site to capture search engine attention and constantly submitting your updated site information to search engines and online directories. You can do much of this yourself or seek help from one of the SEO services catering to small business.

Here are seven visibility-boosting tips:

1. Use descriptive and informative text on each page of your Web site, choosing words that relate directly to your product, service or industry.
2. Highlight and feature your most important content first, in a clear, uncluttered fashion.
3. Ask other relevant sites to link to yours. One measure search engines now use to measure your site's importance is how many others link to it.
4. If you use search engine ads, be sure to include the keyword ("sailboats," "dog toys" etc.) in your title and description. Prospects are 50 percent more likely to click on listings that include the specific term they typed in.
5. Write titles and descriptions that are clear, factual and free of excessive superlatives (best, cheapest, biggest). People prefer listings that are more factual and less "sales talk."
   
6. If your geographic location is relevant, use it in the description. Some search engines now offer ad programs geared specifically to small, local businesses.
7. Don't expect search engines and online directories (such as About.com) to find you. Submit your site to them. The best way to do this is through a paid submission service (our resource listings below can help). These services are effective and inexpensive.