Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a practice that makes you more visible as a business online. If you want for your prospective audience to be able to find you, it is important to make sure that you can be found. When you put your business or organization online, it is just like opening a business in an office park. You can open that business, but nobody except those that you actually tell about your business will know you are there. Obviously if those people pass on the message, and you have an extra product or message then the word will spread to some degree; but grassroots advertising can really only go so far, especially online.
The Sign
If you want for someone to be able to find your business in an office park, a good start is for you to put up a sign. Your web site has a sign, though you may not realize it. If you ever noticed when you click on different links that the title changes on the tab or in the title bar of your browser, you are noticing the effects of a meta tag known as the "title tag." Big deal, so when you click on your site you only see the site name, so what? Well, if you do not have a title in your title tag, then you do not have a sign for the search engines to identify you by. If your title tag says nothing, then they can not tell what is in your site until they get inside of it. If your title tag says "MaskingTape.com – Masking Tape Retailers" then you are telling the search engines that behind the door is a site related to masking tape.
The Description
Let us say that you put up your sign on the door of the office park, but it did not make a huge difference in your traffic. What is next? Well, maybe they want to know what is inside of your business before they make the time to come in. I know it's rare that I say to myself, "Why do not I go in search of a door to open just because it's a business?" If you want to add that feature to your sign, there is a description tag that needs to be filled out as well. This tag is something that the search engines can read and clue in your visitors to.
Your description may say, "Distributing a range of quality masking tapes, including the new TriColor masking tape and Morgan's Super Stick Masking Tape.We now offer online shopping and pre-ordering alternatives. upon request. " Notice that I spelled out each of the types of discount? That is because some search engines will not understand "contractor, organizational, and non-profit discounts." I want every contractor to find that they have a discount on my site. This addition to my sign will help people understand why they want to come to my store instead of another.
What's in a Keyword?
One last "meta" tag is the keyword tag. This is where I will list the most relevant search terms that people will use to find my site. This is often found using sets of online tools or by trial and error, but it is essentially as though I am placing myself in the directory for the office park. When you look at the office park directory, I want you to see me under the Retailer, Contractor Supply, Janitorial Supply, and Hardware Supply categories. This directory will tell you what type of business I am in the first place so that you are directed towards me to see that sign and description on my door. The keywords for your masking tape site may vary, but I will probably use something like "masking tape, painter tape, contractor supplies, janitorial supplies, painter supplies, crafting tape, paper tape, contractor discount, non-profit discount, educator discount" to start with. These are some basic terms that some persons would include in their search term when looking for masking tape of some variety. This ensures that you will be in the ranks when someone searches for these terms.
Relevance is Key
The next concern with the optimization of your site is that you have keywords through your page. What this does is show the search engines that you are relevant. This would be akin to you making sure that the displays of masking tape are the first thing that your customers see when they walk into the door. If your customer walks into the store and sees a paint brush display, some impulse bins of budget wrenches and screwdrivers, a few shelves of different varieties of caulk, but few displays of masking tape; you can imagine how put out they may be. The search engines want to see that you have many words that are related to masking tape on your website so that they can be sure that this is the place to refer people that are searching for masking tape.
The Power of Reciprocity
When you are in business as a masking tape retailer, you will want to be associated with other, related businesses. In the trade shows you may introduce yourself to salesmen for some high-end paint, explaining to them why a particular product is well suited to their product. This type of affiliation would be good for you, so that they refer people to you to find your fine masking tape when they are using. You may want to make sure that particular craft supply businesses know that the TriColor tape line is available at your store, which is particularly popular with people that work in wax crayon. When you can refer people to reputable businesses that are related to your product line, and they will refer people back to you that are interested in masking tape, then you build a reputation as being a strong member of the masking tape community. The same concept applications online with websites.
When you are cataloged by the search engines, they will look at what businesses are pointing toward you, and what businesses you point to. In this model, you referring people to the paint dealer, and he referring painters to you, is called a reciprocal link. Such reciprocal links are very important to the reputation of your website as being an important to masking tape, as well as crafts and painters. Many search engines will look at all of the above information when figuring out how to rank you. In the office park you will likely be put on the directory in alphabetical order, but in search engines you will be cataloged by relevance. Search engine optimization is the practice of increasing your relevancy.
The First Right Answer
If you are not on one of the first ten pages when someone searches for masking tape, then visitors to your site will be rare indeed. The people that search for a good online masking tape retailer may find Marge's Masking Tape Shack first, or Tom's Masking Tape Hide-A-Way. Even if you have a superior line of products and the best prices available, none of that matters if nobody found you in the first place. When they search, if you're not the first right answer, then you do not exist. You do not just need to be relevant, you need to be first.
Nearly everyone that is using the Internet today will navigate their way to relevant sites through a search. The only way that you can ensure that you will be found in that search is by employing good SEO tactics. There are proper ways to do this, and there are also improper (black hat) ways to do this. Implementing good SEO will guide many visitors safely to your relevant information or products, while black hat tactics will get you banned from search engines entirely. Everyone that has a website should learn at least basic SEO if they want their information to be found and used by their target audience.
