Website Optimization

Website optimization goes hand-in-hand with “SEO” or “search engine optimization”.  SEO is series of optimization methods and marketing strategies which together are extremely important in driving more visitors to your website. The goal of properly executed SEO is having your website pages appear in the “organic listings” of a search engine for a related “keyword” search that a person types in the search field.. There are many popular search engines, although Google, Yahoo and Bing are the most popular.

In order to understand what Website Optimization is, you have to have a basic understanding of the “who, what, where, when, why and how” people find or search for the products and services you offer.

Think of internet as a “shopping mall” that never closes. It’s always open. Now, think of your website as a “department store” in that mall.  Next, imagine your website’s homepage as the entrance to your store. The other pages of the website represent the departments of products and services that are inside your store.

Consider this: your website is among thousands, millions, maybe even billions of websites that make up the Internet, locally and globally. The  “information highway” or “Internet”, is filled with “bumper-to-bumper” traffic! The Internet is a very busy highway, indeed, with millions of people searching for millions of products and services.Â

People usually go to a directory or a search engine to find information. A directory, such as yellowpages.com, is ideal for people who have an idea of what they are looking for, such as “carpet cleaners” or to look up a local business or address. Most directories of this type require you to pay a fee to have a “featured listing” as opposed to a standard listing.

A search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN, will return listings relevant to a search query – a keyword or phrase typed into the search box. For example, if you are looking for websites that have to do with “finding a Nanny”, you would most likely use a search engine.

Before building a website, your website design and content should consider which keyword targets would be most likely used in a search query to find your site. This includes the page titles, meta tags (source code), content, and filenames of each page URL (website page address). If your site was built without optimization in mind, then your at a disadvantage.