Webmasters and Business Website Owners Must Stay Proactive to Get Better Search Engine Results

Every day, hundreds of thousands of business owners ask themselves, "Why is my website not on page one of Google?, Why am I not getting more email inquiries? and Why am I not getting more traffic?"

There are no short cuts or magical solutions to increasing traffic to your website and generating more sales. Getting traffic and good search engines results are a combination of things. But mostly it is about being proactive.

You probably don't have a multi-million dollar ad budget like TDameritrade.com. or Ditech.com. But that’s okay. The beauty of the Internet is, you can compete with the big boys if you're web savvy.

Following are some proactive steps you can do yourself to extend your websites’ reach over the Internet.

1) Do You Sell over the Web? Sign up for Google Checkout. It's Free!
Google Checkout is a fast, convenient checkout process that brings you more customers and allows them to buy from you with a single login -- and you can process their orders and charge their credit or debit cards for free.
https://checkout.google.com/sell

Alternatively you can post your products on Google here without signing-up for Google checkout!
www.google.com/base/help/sellongoogle.html

2) If you have an e-commerce website, you might consider setting up mini-E-Bay Stores for all your categories to drive traffic back to your website. See how Visionefx client Superior Pawn created their mini E-Bay Store here.

3) If you have a business or website that is youth oriented, create an enhanced MySpace page to extend your reach. We experiment with MySpace. http://myspace.com/visionefx
* NOTE: Keep in mind that the MySpace primary demographic is 16 to 24.

4) Find Blogs and Forums pertaining to your business, services or products. This is called creating viral buzz or viral marketing. For example, if you sell antiques, seek out Blogs and Forums where people gather to discuss and share information. To get some idea of what I'm talking about visit my Webmaster Tools page where on the right-hand side you will see the Blogs and Forums that I have joined.

* NOTE: Be careful not to advertise your website in Blogs or Forums. This is known as Marketing Spam. If you have a wealth of knowledge to share, then people will view your Blog or Forum profile to find your website. If you have your own Blog, see item #13.

5) Setup local listings for your website on Google Local, MSN Local, Local.com, Yellowpages, and Superpages. Information to accomplish this can be found here:
www.visionefx.net/articles/local-business-listings.htm

6) Place some items on Google Base. Google Base is in beta testing. Google is looking to grow this product to compete with E-Bay. Get in on the ground floor for free.
www.visionefx.net/articles/What-is-Google-Base.htm

7) Place your website in as many FREE web directories as possible. Keep in mind that it is not how many directories you're in --- it's the quality of directory you in.
* NOTE: An important rule of thumb to follow is to take time to browse the directory. Ask yourself, "Is this a useful, well organized directory?" If the answer is yes, then sign up for free.
www.visionefx.net/submit.htm

8) Consider a paid directory. There are only a few paid directories that are worth paying a monthly or yearly fee. To date, we have found the www.resourcelinks.net business directory to be the best bang for the buck. For a dollar a day or $365.00 per year, this directory is a powerful supplement to extend the reach of your website.

9) Postings for Non-Profits. Americantowns.com is a great place to get viral buzz going in your community.

10) Network Online Regional & Locally. MeetUp is a great place to network with prospective customers. Find other professionals and businesses owners sharing similar, interests, challenges and ideas!

11) Publish on topic aggregators. SQUIDOO and Hubpages allows you to meet new customers. Spread an idea. Sell more stuff. Fund raise for charity. Direct readers to your blog. Earn some milk money. Make a fan page. Get yourself hired and a lot more. How? It's all about content and links! ~ Find a web community and get out there and sound-off! It's better to be a needle in a haystack versus being a needle in a stack of needles!

12) Have a Book to Sell or Share? Tell Google! Reach a new audience of readers with Google Books! Check out: googlebooks/publishers

13) Do you have a Blog that you want Google to know about? If your blog has recently changed and you would like Google to crawl it you may your blog URL to Google here: http://blogsearch.google.com/ping

14) Start Your Own a Blog. In most cases you can create a free online Blog yourself in less than an hour. However, having a personal or business Blog does not mean you are going to get instant interest and traffic. Building visitor traffic and readership takes time and effort. So be sure you are ready to commit a few hours each day to do this.

15) Publish on Article EZines. Become an online information guru.
Popular article web directories such as Search Warp and Ezine Articles are great places to post your articles for free. Posting your articles helps you to market yourself as an authority in your service, product or business.
This adds to your online credibility! Additionally, owners of other 'content driven websites' will post your article within their website.
All Online Roads Lead to back to Rome!

16) Use Everyday Communications to Advertise Your Site! You probably already have your website name (URL) on your business card, invoices and letterhead. How about your email signature? This is a great way to keep your website name in front of clients and customers.
NOTE: If you have product(s) or article pages then include a few of these high-profile links in your email signature as well!

See my email signature below.

















17) Lastly. Ask like-kind websites for a link. If you are a realtor, ask then person or companies you do business with to place your website link on their website and do the same for them. Google Founders, Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page describe this here; relevant link citation. Examples of linking citations for a 'realtor' would include mortgages, loan officers, banks, title companies, developers, builders and other realtors.
*NOTE: In the scheme of the World Wide Web, it's more important to have 1 link citation for your website on another high profile website, versus having your website connected to 100,000 no-name websites.

The days of building a website and expecting instant business are long gone. The competition is fierce. Even if you have good search engine position, there’s always someone out there nipping at your heels who’s going to try harder.

Do not be discouraged. Be patient and keep on a steady pace. Set aside some time each day, evening or weekend and spend time performing the tasks I have outlined here.

Be PROACTIVE!

About the Author
Rick Vidallon is President of Visionefx, a Web design company based in Virginia Beach, Va. They provide services to national companies as well as small to medium businesses throughout the United States. Rick can be reached at (757) 619-6456 or rick@visionefx.net.