Web Design | Web Hosting CT
Facebook just launched an aggressive program for small businesses. You can receive up to $150 in advertising on Facebook. A page needs a minimum of 50 fans to be eligible. It’s very easy to setup “sponsored stories” and quickly grow your fans. Watch a short video to learn more.
There are many if not TOO many “Search Engine Experts”. Many claim to guarantee you top ranking, this is a red flag.
Here’s a direct quote from the Better Business Bureau website:
“Avoid companies that guarantee you a top ten ranking in the search engines. These companies may get your site listed high in the search engine results, but only for keywords that are unrelated to your website and are almost never searched for online. Some of these SEO sites are outright scams that will take your money and disappear … Any company that promises an outrageous claim should be avoided altogether. The most important thing to keep in mind is that no one can guarantee you a top listing in the search engines.”
Search Engine Optimization takes time and there are few “silver bullets”. However there are many ways that a company with a minimal investment in time and money can achieve a high ranking. Below are 5 simple steps that will help:
Make certain the text on your home does a good job of describing your business. If it’s a local make certain to mention your geographical location.
Also make certain that this “text” is plain text and not an image hidden in Flash or an image.
If local make certain to include a footer on each page that includes your company name, address and phone number.
Make certain your title tags are unique and include your key words.
Lastly make certain that your h1 tags for each page contain your important key words.
Many people overlook an important method to boost your rankings with the search engines. Google looks very closely at the sites that link to your site to determine the value of your site, these links are called “back links”. Back links are web links that point to your site. For example most businesses are members of their local chamber, and thus usually listed in the chamber’s business directory. Thus your local chamber has a back link to your site.
TIP: Double check your chamber site and make certain the information is accurate and complete.
Note Branford Chamber new website takes this “link juice” a step further for more info please see micro sites.
When the search engines spider the chamber site they will also discover your web address. You now have a link from the chamber site to your site. In theory the higher the number of links the better, EXCEPT quality matters. Links are similar to “votes” for your website. It’s better to have the NY Times post a favorable review of your restaurant, then 10 local bloggers, so it’s really quality over quantity. In fact it’s possible to be penalized for “low quality” back links.
Google analyzes both sites for relevancy as part of its algorithm to determine ranking. Example if a dog grooming site links back to your restaurant site, this is obviously a lousy link. However, if a hotel or a local wine store links to your site this would carry more weight.
It’s easy to check the number of links to your site, just go to siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/