In this time and age, it’s hard to imagine a business that is invisible online, yet I keep stumbling on them. With large numbers searching online now, even just to look up a phone number and address, it’s almost ludicrous to not be able to find a business online.
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation. The process of improving the visibility of your website in search engines e.g Google.
I happened to be in this exact situation a few days ago – looking for the contact details of a local shop. Imagine my surprise to find nothing coming up when I did a Google search. It wasn’t a new business and I tried a few variants but without much success. Curiosity got the better of me and I drove up to the shop to see if it was still in business. It was and it even had a website address!
Have you given any thought to your keywords?
I should preface the rest of this post by stating that I’m no SEO expert but there are some basics that every business owner should know, especially if you are into DIY e.g. using free tools to build your website.
I took a quick peek at the keywords of the business’s website and found the strangest keywords.
This business had obviously used a free software called “pretashop” hence the keywords highlighted in red, neither of which is relevant to the business.
TIP – To view a webpage’s keywords, right click on the page, and select view source code
If you don’t already know, keywords are the words your potential customers use to find you – your business name, the type of product or service you offer. Not having the right keywords means they can’t find you!
If you really don’t understand what or how, then make it a point to learn. Do a quick “SEO Basics” search in Google and a string of articles come up. Granted some are better than others at explaining these concepts, so I’ve listed a few here that I thought would be good to start with:
- Google SEO basics for beginners – short article about the basics.
- SEO: A comprehensive guide for beginners or A simple step-by-step guide to SEO – a bit more detailed than the article above but still easy to follow and understand.
- The beginners guide to SEO – 10 chapters on SEO if you are ready for a bit more, but still targeted at beginners.
- On Page SEO Checklist – an easy to understand checklist of things to look out for.
If it really is all too much, then outsource. This is one expense that you will have to grin and bear!
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