“I’ve had a Web site for a year and I still can’t find it when I do a search.” - The lament of a new small business store owner I recently spoke with (who had spent over a $1,000 for just a very basic site). I’m sad to say he was correct on both facts. What he had not understood was the difference between “hosting” and “presence notification”.
Hosting is the process of storing your Web site’s computer code on a hard disk in a “web server” computer that is physically connected to the internet. This is how people across the world can access it. Notification is the process of informing the search engine companies (i.e. Google, Yahoo, MSN etc) that the web site exists, what it’s site map is etc. Some hosting companies do this for you some don’t – price plays a role but “buyer beware” plays a bigger role.
Typical Search Engines
Today many web hosting organizations can handle the search engine notification process behind the scenes, included as part of their hosting fees. But even then, some do a much better job than others. This is a crucial step as your web site will NEVER be recognized, crawled and ranked by search engines just because it’s on a hosted hard drive. This is a simple first step on the long path of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) but a crucial one.
It is not my intent to address SEO in detail, it represents an entire industry of professionals and experts just by itself. However, understand that tremendous gains can be had by paying attention to basic fundamentals of what makes your Web site visible and search engine friendly. Just like Coach Lombardi’s famous educational quote “Gentlemen This is a football” – essentially that to win you must know and follow the basics. Here are the basics;
- Content is critical. The search engine can only find and index information you put on your web site. Make sure content is pertinent and current. There is both visible and non-visible (called meta data) content that is important, so be sure to pay attention to both, it’s a core essential.
- Activity is key. Search engines use a technique called “crawling” to get their indexing information. The frequency of crawling is important, and it’s partially dependent on how active your web site is and how often the information changes. Making frequent small updates to your site is better than making huge changes infrequently.
- Reciprocal Links. This is the concept of having other web sites link back to your web site. The most ideal reciprocal pointers are from web sites that are heavily trafficked themselves. So you should make effort to get listed in as many major directories as possible, everything from the local chamber of commerce web site business directory to yellow pages.
The above items are always useful, yet they can also demand more time than a business owner has. In such cases using alternative methods that still help build “presence” is the bette way to go. In tomorrow’s blog I discuss, Web Myth #3 – Web Presence is the same as a Web Site.
