We are often told that a social media campaign can increase web traffic and search engine ranking, but how is it done? How can you increase your search engine ranking and start getting traffic? What is SEO? Welcome to the wonderful world of search engine optimisation.

The idea is to get your website, blog and social media profiles appearing on the first page of search engine results. Longer search queries are more likely to lead to conversions. Try creating a list of search terms using relevant keywords. Include words that you think your target audience will be searching for, your company name and your products and services, any industry specific terms and jargon, and your location if you sell locally.

There are also a number of keyword selection tools on line that are free to use. I use the Google keyword tool which generates associated keywords and statistics. As it’s difficult to compete with the high competition out there that are using your more obvious keywords, make sure that you include the ones that have low competition but a high number of monthly searches. Test your selected search terms to be sure that sites like yours end up in the search results.

Search engines use metatags to help rank a website, blog or social media page. They appear in the pages source code, and you can choose View/Source in your browser to see them. You can insert metatags and tags for photos if you use a content management system or blog software. If not you may need technical help from your web site developer.

Tip: Most search engines don’t check entire websites or blogs so it’s best to put your search terms into the first paragraph of what you are writing.

Try this!

• Submit your website url to http://www.google.com/addurl
  http://siteexplorerer.search.yahoo.com/submit and http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx
• Create a list of 30 keywords and search terms using the Google keyword tool.
• Check and add to the metatags in the page source for your site.
• Start a blog. Search engines love to see regularly updated content.
• Write a blog post that includes some good keywords early on in the article.

If you find it difficult to commit the time to building an on-going relationship with customers through blogging and social media then you could consider outsourcing this. I love writing and can write posts with your business needs and aims in mind.

Get in touch if you’d like me to draw in readers, build your brand and reputation and increase visitors to your website.