Build it and they will come?

John Clark, President of Wow Web Works, responds to this common question.

Your website is built and sitting pretty. So where are all the people you hoped would come over to play? You need traffic for your site to be effective and to start generating leads. Now that you know that just having a website won't necessarily drive business to you, you should consider the most important thing most people miss in this effort.

Here are the 3 factors that need to be in place for a successful website and successful business:

1. Search Engine Optimization. This refers to the things many consider the most important. There are the basic A-B-C's of getting things set up with keywords and phrases so that you will rank well against your competition in Google, Yahoo and the like. This involves a lot of elements that you, as the end user, may not realize or see. Having the proper titles for each page, putting in the right key words and header tags. There are solid things that should be done and average web designers rarely take it beyond this point. Being ranked well by search engines starts here but the best realize this is only the start.
    
2. Content That Is Effective. Visitors are useless unless they buy something or make contact with you. We call this "Conversion Ratio". What percentage of your website visitors convert into buyers and users of your services? This can and should be measured. The important things here are the attractiveness and professional appearance of the site with content that is compelling. Having the right mix of words, graphics and informational content can take conversion rates from being non-existent to well over 10%.
    
3. Off Site Factors Are Most The Important Factors in Driving Traffic! What are 'off site factors'? The most important key for ranking well with Google are the links that come to you from other sites that Google considers to be important sites. Here is the problem. How can you control whether or not other sites talk about you and link to you? I don't mean calling other site owners and saying something like, "Hey, I'll link to you if you link to me" stuff. Mutual links are not important anymore. One way links are. So how can you get those rolling? Well, this takes work. The nice part is that it is work that will have a direct effect on your bottom line. You have enough "busy work" as a business owner. This isn't busy work; it's vital. 
   
   Social-Business Networking Sites - Use Them
   This is where sites like LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com and even MySpace.com come into play. I recommend using LinkedIn.com for business development. From there you can refer to your website and create interest in your site in others. Posting your information and inviting contacts to link in with you can be huge. It's like having a second or third website with positive recommendations about you and your business.
   
   

Frogtown Media Web Design uses industry recognized best practices when designing search engine friendly websites. Frogtown also offers search engine optimization services to help you identify the keyword phrases for your market, implement those phrases and track performance.  If you'd like more information on how to increase search engine ranking, give us a call at 678-947-6188 or contact us today!

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