Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a critical consideration for designing your website. Most companies delay optimizing their site until after it is launched, but if you include SEO in your website’s early planning stages, you’ll save both time and money. Perhaps SEO is discounted in the process because it is essentially free, but the cost for improper planning can be exorbitant.
Why Optimize Your Website?
There are several benefits to search engine optimization:
- It’s virtually FREE – Organic search engine results are based on the front-end and back-end content of your website. You don’t have to pay to get your site listed and you definitely don’t have to pay for every click to your website.
- Increase your traffic – If properly optimized, the average website can expect that 30-40% of the traffic to their website will come from search engines.
- Long-term results – Search engines keep track of your rankings, so positive results now will lead to higher rankings in the future.
Selecting Keywords
Your first, and most important, step is choosing your keywords. Selecting the most appropriate keywords for your website can be challenging and time-consuming, but the process is critical to achieve optimal results. Picking the right keywords for your website will have tremendous results, while choosing inappropriate keywords could be disastrous.
When it comes to selecting the right words, think of quality – not quantity. Getting a ton of search traffic to your site does not guarantee sales, but a small amount of highly qualified search traffic could have a considerable impact on your bottom line.