Attracting Traffic to Websites

With search-engine optimization, companies can move higher in the ratings of search engines & directories

by Stacy Williams

In today's economy, many marketers are being charged with the difficult task of driving traffic to their website on a limited budget. One powerful tool that can address this challenge is search?engine optimization (SEO). Search-engine optimization entails getting a website included in the search engines and directories, and optimizing it so that it ranks high, which translates into greater visibility and more traffic.

Why do we care about search engines? Several recent studies have shown that more than 80% of people turn to search engines when they're looking for a web-site. Search engines drive extremely targeted traffic the visitor who finds your site through a search engine is looking for exactly what you're selling. And SEO is normally much more affordable than traditional media or other marketing tactics. In fact, with a little effort, it's something that marketers can do themselves.

There are three types of search engines, and a thorough SEO campaign will target all of them.

Crawler-based

True, crawler-based search engines include AltaVista, Excite, Google, HotBot and Lycos, among others. These engines use automated programs called crawlers that follow links from page to page across the Web. They index the content of every Web page they come across into their engine's gigantic database. When someone runs a search, they apply a complicated algorithm to this database, which determines which sites are displayed to the searcher, and in what order they're listed.

Crawlers are not terribly sophisticated they can only read a site's code and the HTML text that's visible on the Web page. They can't read copy that's in graphic format, Flash or other streaming media, dynamically generated content, or anything beyond the basics. Therefore, it's important to have your key content presented on a static Web page in HTML text. It's also important to have links to the pages deeper in your site in HTML text so that the crawlers can index every page on your site.

Next, figure out which search terms to target. Search terms are the words or phrases your target audience might type into a search engine in order to find you. Brainstorm, and compile as long a list as you can. Talk to prospects and customers, and ask them what words they'd use to find a site like yours. You can also use on-line tools to determine what phrases people are actually using(GoTo.com's Search Suggestion tool, www.goto.com, or WordTracker, www.wordtracker.com), but they require a small investment.

Select search terms that are relevant to your site, and that aren't too competitive. That is, if you type a broad(and short) term like insurance into Excite, you'll be battling over 3.6 million other sites for top rankings. If you're not in the top 30 or so listings, you may as well not be there at all. A longer and more targeted term like Atlanta term life insurance broker returns 37,000 sites instead, offering a greater likelihood for success.

Apply one search term to each of the key pages on your website. Search engines look for themes, so it doesn't work to optimize the home page for 20 different terms. Have your Web developer add the search term to the page's title, description meta tag, and the visible text on the page. There are other places that some of the engines look, but those three are the most critical.

Finally, submit to the search engines. Most of them have a link called Submit A Site or Add URL(usually at the bottom of the page). Follow the instructions, and be sure to abide by their guidelines if they think you're trying to trick them or bend their rules, they have the right to kick your site out of their database for life.

Human-edited Directories

Human-edited directories include Yahoo, LookSmart, Open Directory Project(www. dmoz.org), and About.com. They're critical, not only because they get a lot of traffic from searchers, but also because they often supply their databases to the other big search engines.

Instead of crawlers, directories use people called editors or guides to review websites and decide which ones to add to their database. Since their goal is not to index every site out there(instead, they look for the best), they reject a lot of sites.

It's important to have a site with quality content and pleasing graphics, in order to be accepted by the directories. You shouldn't have any pages that are under construction, or any dead links. Editors also look for a street address displayed prominently this helps ensure that you're a legitimate business.

Directories have categories that searchers can drill down through to find, for example: Business and Economy > Business to Business > Computers >Software >Databases. It's important to be listed in an appropriate category be sure to see where your competitors are listed when determining your ideal category.

When you've decided which category is most appropriate, click on the Suggest a Site button from that page. Write a description for your site that's factual and objective if you include any marketing or sales?type copy, the directory will rewrite it for you(and usually they do a poor job). Be sure to follow the directory's guidelines they'll even set a word limit for your description.

Yahoo and LookSmart charge $199 apiece to review your site and consider it for inclusion. If you're rejected, you don't get your money back. Despite that risk, it's worth it the amount of traffic you can generate from these directories and their partners normally justifies the expense.

Pay-per-click

Pay-per-click search engines such as GoTo.com allow your site to be visible across 75% of Web searches within a matter of days. But you must pay to play you bid for your rankings. For example, a bid of 28 cents for a particular search term may allow your site to be ranked No.1. This means that anytime someone searches on that term and clicks through to your site, you pay GoTo.com 28 cents.

To put together a campaign, search a number of potential search terms until you find several that are affordable, and bid so that you're in the top three rankings. The top three are critical because GoTo.com supplies these to many other top search engines, such as AltaVista, America Online, HotBot and Netscape (they're called Featured Search Results or Sponsored Listings).

If GoTo.com is too costly, consider using FindWhat.com or Sprinks instead. They don't have the reach of GoTo.com, but they're often more affordable.

A strategically executed search-engine optimization program can get your web-site ranked at the top of the engines and directories. Expect to see the number of visitors to your site jump then it'll be up to you to make sure that these visitors take the action you want them to take once they get to your site.

Stacy Williams is president of Prominent Placement, Inc., an Atlanta search-engine optimization company.