| One cannot simply build a website, and thereby | | | | from SEO. Unlike big companies which people have |
| expect a massive influx of leads, sales, | | | | no problem finding on the World Wide Web |
| subscriptions, referrals, etc. It's really the same as | | | | because they already have established brands, |
| having a physical store or office- if people can't | | | | small companies might not even turn up on the |
| find your store then there's no way they can buy | | | | searches. SEO will allow search engine "bots" to |
| anything from you. For a small business website | | | | easily find your website so that it turns up among |
| to be successful and profitable, people need to be | | | | the top results in searches. Of course, |
| able to find the website, and that requires Search | | | | word-of-mouth is still a great marketing tool, but |
| Engine Optimization. | | | | unless people can actually find your site to |
| Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process | | | | suggest to friends, then you really won't get too |
| of applying different techniques and methods to | | | | far on just this method. Combining SEO with |
| improve the ranking of a website within search | | | | other internet marketing methods will help your |
| results. SEO involves understanding the algorithms | | | | e-commerce business or your website succeed. |
| by which search engines - such as Google and | | | | There are a number of ways to improve a |
| Yahoo! - rank pages, so that the SEO practitioner | | | | website to improve its ranking on searches. |
| can alter the website to improve its performance | | | | Although an inexperienced web master can study |
| in the search results. | | | | the methods and experiment with his website, it |
| Studies have clearly shown that when an individual | | | | will be much cheaper and less time-consuming if |
| uses a search engine to search for a particular | | | | he allows experienced SEO practitioners to do the |
| topic or item, the higher ranked pages are far | | | | job. Outsourcing the job to competent search |
| more likely to be clicked on. In fact, the first four | | | | optimizers will allow the business owner to focus |
| results account for 70% of all search-referred | | | | on his core business. The more time he can spend |
| traffic, and the first result alone claims over 40% | | | | developing his products and improving his services, |
| of all clicks! So clearly, it is optimal for a website | | | | the better for the business. As they say, it's |
| to rank within those first few results for related | | | | always best to leave certain things to the |
| search terms. | | | | experts. |
| Small businesses in particular, will benefit greatly | | | | |