Technology & Internet
Ask SCORE                                                                        Word Count 439

Increase Your Online Visibility

Okay, so you’ve hired the best designers around and pulled out all the stops to
build a full-service Web site. Sorry to say, that’s not enough. Even business
owners armed with a fantastic Web site can still feel invisible if they haven’t
taken the next step—generating visibility for the site.

Your goal now should be to pull more prospects to your site and start realizing
a return on your online investment. It’s all about visibility. If prospects don’t
know who or where you are, you’re sunk. A well-done Web site offers great
potential for boosting your business visibility. But with a millions of sites vying
for customer attention, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd.

Search engines are your secret weapons. They are the key to Internet
success for most small businesses. Millions of people use search engines
daily by typing in words or phrases to describe what they want. If your name
pops up in the results list at Google, Yahoo!, AOL Search, MSN, Ask Jeeves
or others, the benefits are golden.

The art of increasing online visibility is one of the newest marketing and
Internet skills small business owners are having to master. In tech lingo, this is
called “search engine optimization” (SEO). To win at this game, you must do
three things:

1)        Create just the right keywords to describe what you offer.  
2)        Organize each page on your site properly to capture search engine
attention.
3)        Periodically submit updated information on your site and your business
to search engines and online directories.

You can do much of this yourself or seek help from search engine submission
services catering to small business. Don’t expect search engines and online
directories to find you. Submit your site to them. The best way to do this is
through a paid submission service. Most such services are effective and
inexpensive.

Improve your visibility to the search engines by placing your most important
content first, in a clear, uncluttered fashion. Write titles and descriptions that
are clear, factual and free of superlatives such as best, cheapest, biggest, etc.
People prefer listings that are more factual and less “sales talk.” If your
geographic location is relevant, use it in the description. Some search
engines now offer ad programs geared specifically to small, local businesses.

To learn more about selling effectively on the Web, contact SCORE
"Counselors to America's Small Business." SCORE is a nonprofit
organization of more than 10,500 volunteer business counselors who provide
free, confidential business counseling and training workshops to small
business owners. Call to  (515) 284-4760 between the hours of 10:00 A.M.
and 3:00 P.M. Monday through Friday.