Many clients I work with here in Tallahassee often wonder why their site does not seem to perform well in searches on the web and that can be boiled down to three main reasons:

1. Site Structure

2. Site Content

3. Site Links

Before we consider what each of these mean for a local business here in Tallahassee (or anywhere for that matter), let me give you some tips about what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is NOT.

- web sites take time to get indexed properly into search engines - IT DOES NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT. I try to give my clients realistic expectations that four to six months is reasonable, but it could be quicker depending on how aggressive the campaign is going to be.

- pay to get listed ads are USUALLY scams - AVOID them.

- the person or company that developed your website MAY NOT know any thing about SEO. SEO is much more than just submitting your site to search engines, it goes down to how the site is built and what content you have on the site

Okay, now that you have some basic tips about what SEO is not, here is what you CAN DO to increase your sites ranking in search engines:

1) Have your site built correctly

- does your site have a good TITLE tag? If you don’t know what that means, you should find out quickly!
- does your site have all the META tags used properly? Though these tags are not ultimate determining factor in SEO, they do help and should not be ignored
- does your site use H1 tags for the titles of each page?
- is your ALT text for images used properly?

Yes, these are basics, but most sites I review for businesses here in Tallahassee do not have ANY of these items done. Check your site!

2) Create quality content

- has it been a while since you updated your website? more than 90 days? if so, you are missing out on one of the biggest factors that search engines like - NEW CONTENT!
- not only should you be providing new content, but it should be well written and use your targeted keywords properly
- look at the URL’s (which is a fancy term for the address of your website up in the address bar) of your site. Do the pages on your site have proper names? If not,
-

3) Work on a Link Campaign

- one last final item that will help your website’s SEO is that you get other sites to link to yours. Now if you have done #1 and #2, that will become easier as you begin to get looked at as the ‘expert’ in your field since you are updating your well-made site with great content - people will link to you.
- there are places where you should be listed that will help draw in links: social media outlets like Facebook, LinkedIn and others.

So what do you do now?

Let me encourage you to attend Social850.com’s first seminar presented May 19, 2009 to learn even more about how you can use the Internet, email, SEO and social media to have your online presence become the sales force it should be.