| Ranking high in Google's search results can | | | | |
| have a phenomenal impact on the success of | | | | An important tip is to also include these |
| your business. | | | | keywords in your HTML "title tag". Use your |
| | | | content management system to make these |
| You can either engage the expertise of a | | | | changes yourself, or perhaps ask your web |
| Search Engine Optimisation company, or if you | | | | developer to do it if you're unsure how. |
| have the time, there are some changes you can | | | | |
| make to your website yourself. | | | | Once you have fine-tuned your home page, |
| | | | consider adding new content, such as detailed |
| Step 1: Keyword Research | | | | descriptions of what you offer, FAQs and |
| | | | informative articles about your products and |
| What keywords do you think your customers | | | | services. (If you don't want to write these |
| would type in to search for your products or | | | | yourself, they can be located for free on the |
| services? A keyword can be one word (e.g. | | | | internet - do a search for "articles |
| "optimisation"), but multiple keywords or | | | | directory"). |
| keyword phrases are usually preferred, | | | | |
| because they are more specific and more | | | | It's also good to bear in mind that search |
| likely to be what your customers are looking | | | | engines can only read text, not pictures. |
| for (eg. " Search Engine Optimisation | | | | Often web developers embed words in images to |
| Australia"). | | | | look better for website visitors or use Flash |
| | | | for animation, but this is a major impediment |
| Write down as many as you can think of. | | | | to search engines. |
| Brainstorm with your team. Think of | | | | |
| alternative words. Consider geographical | | | | Step 3: Linking |
| phrases if they are important to your | | | | |
| customer (e.g. "house cleaning Hornsby"). | | | | Each link from another website to your |
| Also, get some ideas from your competitors' | | | | website (not from your website) is considered |
| websites. Try to make a list of 20-30 keyword | | | | by search engines as a vote of popularity for |
| phrases. | | | | your business and will improve your rankings. |
| | | | |
| Choose the two keyword phrases you think | | | | But it is the quality, not quantity, of the |
| would be searched for the most. But also | | | | links that is crucial. The other websites |
| remember, the more competition there is for a | | | | should be relevant to your industry, and |
| keyword, the harder it is to achieve top | | | | preferably highly regarded themselves. Ten |
| rankings. If you want to rank high in Google | | | | quality links count far more than 500 links |
| for the keyword "insurance", you have a very | | | | from arbitrary websites. In the same way your |
| long journey ahead. So try your best to | | | | personal business network can have a |
| select two keyword phrases that are the most | | | | significant impact on the success of your |
| relevant to you business but that are not | | | | business, so too the online network you build |
| vague nor competitive. It's a good idea to | | | | on the internet. |
| have 2 or 3 words in each phrase (e.g. | | | | |
| "wedding catering services") | | | | Brainstorm all the relevant websites that |
| | | | could link to you, such as non-competing |
| Once you've selected your two best keyword | | | | companies, and industry bodies and |
| phrases the next step shows you how to make | | | | organisations. Write a friendly email to each |
| some improvements to your home page. | | | | describing the benefit their visitors would |
| | | | get in knowing about your business, and |
| Step 2: Web Copy | | | | request them to create a link to your |
| | | | website. Most people will not respond first |
| Web copy refers to all the words or text on | | | | time round, so a follow-up phone call is |
| your website. Because content is king in the | | | | usually required. |
| world of search engines, your keyword phrases | | | | |
| need to be placed strategically on your | | | | How do I monitor my results? |
| webpage to convince Google that your content | | | | |
| is highly relevant to those keywords. The | | | | Monitor your rankings in Google over the next |
| more prominent they are, the better. (Keep in | | | | few months by typing your chosen keywords |
| mind that as important as search engines are, | | | | into the search box, and recording your |
| customers come first, so make sure your copy | | | | ranking. Also look at your hosting reports to |
| also reads well.) | | | | understand what search terms your visitors |
| | | | are using to find your website. |
| Here's how you can increase each keyword's | | | | |
| prominence: | | | | The above process can be also be repeated for |
| | | | each page of your website. Remember to keep |
| - Place your keywords in headings, preferably | | | | updating your content, and continually |
| at the beginning of the heading; | | | | increase the number of links to your website. |
| | | | |
| - Include keywords towards the top of the | | | | As you see your rankings climb you should see |
| page; | | | | a corresponding increase in web traffic and a |
| | | | substantial increase in sales enquiries. Be |
| - Bold or italicise keywords where | | | | sure to record the source of your customer |
| appropriate; | | | | enquiries, so you can measure the success of |
| | | | your marketing efforts. |
| - Instead of having a link to another page | | | | |
| that says "Click here to read more ", reword | | | | Remember, if you measure it, you can improve |
| it to include your keywords, e.g. "Read more | | | | it. |
| about our seo copywriting Services". | | | | |