by Erinn Berge/Hwy87Media.com
Just what does it take to market your business these days? With technology advancing at lightning speeds, it seems every day there is a new widget or whatchya-macallit that promises to enhance your life or business in some new technological way. For those that have websites, it is an ever-reaching dream to be placed at least on the first or second page on those elusive search engines owned by Google or Bing, among a few others.
Search engine optimization or SEO as the pro’s call it, doesn’t have to be so elusive. There are some general first steps that a business should follow in order to get their foot in the door of the online world. The first and foremost important rule of thumb is to make sure that you are registered with Google. Google is by far the leader in many virtual aspects including the laws of search engine-dom. You can visit this link to get started with that process www.google.com/placesforbusiness. If you’re going to register with Google, you need to do the same for Bing. Here is the link for bing. http://www.bing.com/businessportal.
Now here is a good tip for our Bolivar Peninsula residents. There are still many locations down here that google maps and bing simply have marked wrong on their map! Help our tourists out, when your registering with google, be sure to follow through with the process to get your location listed correctly. More than 50% of people use their smart phones instead of maps these days to GPS a place of business…. the Crystal Beach area is no exception.
Now that you’re registered with two major search engines, pat yourself on the back! This is a wonderful first step. However, don’t expect to be on the first page or even the fifth of search engines just yet. This takes time and “ugh” a bit of investment. There are plenty of other search engines and indexes that you would want to consider when registering your site. When you budget out your marketing or advertising allotment for the year, consider regular investments in keeping your site savvy enough for the first or second page of a search engine.
Interested in doing this yourself? Start here …You can track how well you’re site is doing with Google Analytics.
But all that said, it is good to have someone local on your side. SEO is an animal that evolves with the times and needs maintaining and tuning. Visit Hwy87 Media to find out more tips and tricks that help you with your online needs. We will be adding more to this site on a regular basis! Come back next week to find out more tips and tricks that help you Get Connected.
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