My website hits stink! How can I make people see me?

By Elizabeth Parks, Researcher, Wyoming Market Research Center

I’m not getting much traffic to my website; it seems to be “lost in space”.  How can I attract new customers through this venue if no one can find it?

There are several things you can do to make your site more visible on the web, first let’s begin with a definition. Web optimization means increasing your chances of having your website found by customers on the Internet. When you purchase a domain, you are competing with millions of other websites to display on the first 3 pages of search engine results.

Search engines use a method of indexing to organize the millions of web pages existing in cyberspace. Simply put, they send out indexing “robots” to scan pages looking for similarities in keywords, URLs, page descriptions, titles and content and then organize pages according to content.

The key to optimizing your website is to build the pages in your site so keywords, page titles and descriptions are picked up by search engines. Behind these elements of your site is HTML source code. Indexing bots scan the source code for these elements and rank web pages according to what they find in the code.

When developing a website, the first thing to consider are keywords or phrases visitors may type into the search box to find you. Each page of your website should have keywords, much like a paragraph is written around a topic sentence.  Keywords should reflect the text on the page and capture the attention of indexing bots, which in turn give you a higher ranking on the results pages of search engines.

Content keywords are becoming increasingly important as businesses compete for customers, as well as search engine visibility. Keywords are your connection to customers on the Internet. Write your content with customers in mind, then go back and insert keywords and phrases into the text you think searchers will type into the search engine box. Customer optimization, or writing for customers, should come before search engine optimization. After all, search engines don’t buy products, customers do.

Page titles work much the same as keywords. They are found at the top of each page and are one of the first things seen by indexing bots; therefore, they should include principle keywords. Titles are a marketing opportunity and should be thought of as a form of advertising. Consumers look for product benefits, so titles should be directed to the benefit derived from the product (or service); for example, “Learn how to ski over the weekend”.

The page description is the two line announcement appearing on search engine result pages. This description is a customer’s first exposure to your business and should be used to “hook” them into clicking on your site. Use compelling text to cause them to explore further. Like titles, your description should include your keywords and read like advertising copy for your business.

If you would like more information on web optimization, the services of WYOMING ENTREPRENUER.BIZ or the Market Research Center contact Elizabeth Parks, eparks@uwyo.edu.