So, how much should you invest in your website?  I’m afraid the answer is that dreaded response:  it depends.  If you have a retail business, you will need to invest more money in building your site.  You have to make sure that your shopping cart is effective and safe.  Also, you’ll  undoubtedly be changing inventory on the site constantly.  If you have a service site (such as this one), you can get away with a smaller financial investment. 

Once you have a site built to your liking, you’ll need to invest some capital to make sure that it’s visible to folks who need to see what you have to say.  It may be time to hire an Internet marketer, an SEO specialist or a PPC manager.  These individuals are professionals who can help get creative with your site, help your site make it to the top of search engines, and help advertise your site to those who are searching for your products/services.

If you already have a website, it’s time to spend some time figuring out how effective your site is and how you can make it work even more efficiently.  Hire an expert to review your site and make suggestions.  I won’t promise that it will be cheap, but it may be even more expensive to overlook a detail on your website.  Even one error could decrease sales on your site dramatically. 

When it comes to your website, spend the time and money to built the site correctly.  Hire professionals to help guide you in this process.   Your efforts (and the professional’s efforts) will pay off in the long run.   Take a look at your website and contact us with questions.  We’d be lucky to help!

First, the definition:  SEO stands for search engine optimization.  Search engines like Yahoo and Google are used by millions of people every day to find information on any number of topics.  You probably use search engines, as well.  You go to Google and type in a few words to try to find information.  After you type these words into the search bar, the search engine will “magically” find sites that are relevant to your search.   The companies with sites found on the first page of results are, no doubt, masters at SEO.  They know that these results aren’t magic, they actually come from strictly following a methodology for attracting the search engines’ attention.  Sites that follow this methodology (SEO) will see their sites increase in rank and may even grace the coveted “first page of Google.”  

So, the key question for every business owner is “How do I make sure that when a searcher looks for my type of business, my website appears?”  The answer is search engine optimization.  Although this can be a complicated subject matter, on the most basic level, there are four main components to SEO. 

1. Relevant incoming links.  One of the best ways to make sure that your site is found is to find other, relevant sites that will be willing to link to your site.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Unfortunately, this can be very difficult.  Most sites do not want to link from their site to a competitor’s site.  A successful link strategy must be well-planned and well-executed. 

2. Content, content, content.  It’s very important that your site has relevant content with specific key terms.  Key terms are those terms that people looking for your type of product or service might type in to Google or Yahoo.  There are many different sites that help analyze which key terms are searched the most frequently.  In some cases, you can also use common sense to figure out which terms searchers are entering. 

3. Site structure.  Even though you may not be able to see the “back end” of your website, the search engine “spiders” can and do.  As a result, it’s crucial that your website builder and/or designer understands the basic principles of SEO and includes search-engine friendly web building techniques.

4. Website age.  The age of your website can affect its placement in the search engines.  The idea is that the longer your site has been live on the Internet, the more credible the information on that website.   Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to speed up this process.  It’s just a matter of time…

So, now that you’re an “expert” on SEO, what’s the first step?  You should contact someone (like your friendly marketing consultant at Lucky Marketing Firm ) who works closely with SEO companies in order to start developing a SEO plan.  This can include finding key terms, developing a linking strategy, creating content, building a blog and beginning an Internet marketing campaign.  It may seem overwhelming at first, but speaking with someone familiar with the process will ease a lot of the stress. 

If you’re ready to begin working on SEO, but unsure how to get started, contact Lucky Marketing Firm!  We can help whether you’re a beginner or if you’ve had a long-running SEO campaign that needs a few tweaks.  We know that the best SEO campaign is one that you don’t have to worry about.  We’ll explain the process and act as a liaison between you and the SEO company. We can “translate” all of the technical jargon, review your contract with the SEO company to make sure you’re getting what you’re paying for and explain the process at every step along the way. 

Who needs luck?  You’ve got Lucky!