SEO, SEO, SEO!!! 1

That’s about all we hear about these days when it comes to web sites. The days of “you need to have a web site” have moved to “you need to be found on the Internet” these days. Having a web site is not enough. There are two pieces to successfully launching and having people visit your web site. The first is to create a dynamic and aesthetically pleasing web site. The second is being found by the search engines.

The reality of search engines is that 90 percent of people searching on the Internet are using Google. This may change with the market being saturated with competitive search engines, but that is how it is right now. Google uses a specific set of criteria when defining where a web site falls given a specific set of search terms. Type in “search engine optimization” and see what pops up. Wikipedia is the first listing of the natural search answers when I type it in to Google. Why is that? There are a great number of factors that lead to being at the top of the search engine listing for any given search terms. In fact, there are so many factors, pointing to any one as being more important than another would be impossible. However, here is a short list of things to check quickly:

• Domain Name – does the domain name have pertinent keywords in it or not. If not, attempt to buy some other more relevant domain names and set up “landing pages” to help guide people to your web site.
• Meta Tags – are the meta tags for the site set up such as the keywords and description amongst others? If not, they need to be in there.
• Title – a simple thing such as a title to the page is often overlooked and yet is so important in helping to define the site to the user AND the search engines.
• H1 Tags – are the H1, H2, H3, etc. tags being utilized fully in the text of the site? Use these liberally within the site in lieu of just plain P Tag text.
• Alt Tags – alt tags should be utilized in every picture and graphic on the site. Use it or lose it.
• Orphans – rid yourself of orphaned pages. Often times, pages are rewritten and the old pages are just left to float. Either delete these or redirect these to new pages.

There are dozens of other things to look for in making your site optimized for the search engines. Blogging is a great way to get some attention. If you are in need of implementing any of these ideas or getting a blog embedded in your web site for optimal search engine awareness, contact PTC Computer Solutions at info@ptccomputersolutions.com or http://www.ptccomputersolutions.com/ to find out more.