| p>You've created a website to promote your | | | | search engines. Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Ask, AOL and |
| products and services, but what's next? With the | | | | others, each have their own interface to help get |
| web, you can't depend on the "if you build it, they | | | | your site noticed. However, the concepts are similar |
| will come" mantra. The World Wide Web is a huge | | | | across all search engines. The key is to take the |
| maze of information, and your potential customers | | | | initiative to register with each engine and follow their |
| may not be able to find you even if your product is | | | | procedures for adding your domain and other |
| exactly what they need. | | | | configuration. For example, you will benefit from |
| This is where search engine optimization (SEO) | | | | uploading a Sitemap file to search engines and |
| comes into to play. SEO is the practice of optimizing | | | | performing regular maintenance to ensure the vitality |
| your web presence to improve the likelihood of | | | | of your site. |
| getting close to the top of search engine results - | | | | Sitemap files are documents that describe all of the |
| and hence more likely to attract prospective | | | | pages on your website along with a weighting to |
| customers. Although this sounds complicated, SEO | | | | indicate which pages are more important than others. |
| does not have to be difficult; you can increase your | | | | See for details of the document format. |
| visibility on the web with very little effort. | | | | A site with messy links, messy or simply invalid |
| First, begin regularly incorporating new content on | | | | HTML, or without a minimum of accessibility |
| your site. If your website is just a static brochure, it | | | | attributes can push you down the list in search |
| is potentially being ignored by search engines. | | | | engines. Using a Sitemap generator tool will help |
| Consider creating a press page where you can post | | | | identify messy links. It will quickly point out pages |
| news and articles about your company. These news | | | | that are linked via different URLs - that is, two |
| releases can also be distributed through an online | | | | distinctly different links point to the same page. |
| newswire service to increase visibility and build | | | | Cleaning these links up is easy and should be a |
| inbound links. You may also consider creating a blog | | | | standard procedure for the care and feeding of your |
| or a forum where your customers can learn more | | | | system. Although messy HTML might still render |
| about your products and express their opinions. | | | | properly in browsers, it adds workload for some |
| Second, try to generate inbound links to your | | | | search engines. |
| website. To determine rankings, search engines | | | | Cleaning up the HTML will help to optimize your site. |
| monitor the quality and number of websites that link | | | | One specific HTML element of importance is the |
| to your site. Find forums and blogs that relate to | | | | document standard your pages are declared to |
| your industry and start participating. Don't spam blogs | | | | adhere. Periodic checking using a validator will help |
| with your sales pitch, but post valid comments and | | | | keep things tidy. Don't stop just at the HTML either, |
| offer expertise. You can then link back to your site | | | | go ahead and check your cascading style sheets by |
| or blog if it relates to a particular topic. Also, seek | | | | using a CSS validator. More information about these |
| links from organizations that you have existing | | | | validators can be found at |
| relationships with such as member organizations, | | | | Don't be left at the bottom of the list. Use these |
| partners, and clients. | | | | simple tips to improve your search engine results and |
| Next, you need to get on the radar for the various | | | | increase the traffic flow to your website. |