Great SEO Advice For Web Design Newbies
Sent by Leeia Ladipoh on July 25th 2008 source
If you have been looking around for ways to set up your new company website, you are probably using a free website builder. Also, you have likely heard that search engine optimization (SEO) is of vital importance.
The whole concept behind SEO is to get the search engines to notice your website as a great source of information for people who are looking for the kinds of services your site offers. This is a very important concept to deal with and get right.
Since you are new to the world of websites, you may think this is a job better left done by someone else, like directories or link exchanges.
You would be wrong.
Registries and Directories
There are plenty of search engine registries out there that will allow you to sign up your website to be noticed by the search engines.
Some of these are all right to use, but others will try to charge you an astronomical amount of money for something you could do just as easily for free.
Link Exchanges
Link exchanges are places where you promise to put up links to other websites in return for them posting links to your website. This can be a fruitful way to go, as long as you are using quality websites to link with.
When you put this job in the hands of someone else, they will likely try to find any link exchanges just to get your job done. This won't necessarily translate into business for you.
Using a free website builder, you can make sure the links that are coming into your website are from sites that will logically send people to your webpage. Often, it is best to create your own link exchanges by contacting companies that are in the same field as you but are not direct competition.
For example, if you sell tropical necklaces, you may want to look for companies that sell either tropical clothing or just tropical earrings, as it is likely clients that want what you have will also be interested in their offerings and vice versa.
Don't be Scammed
There are plenty of companies out there who offer to set you up with link exchanges and register your domain with search engines and directories. For the most part, this is something you can do for yourself using a free website builder, with little time and effort.
Trust me...it is not worth the $100, $200 or more that many companies want to charge you for this service.
If you have already decided to use a free website builder service, why would you want to suddenly spend a fortune on something you could do for free?
Keep in mind that the people offering to submit your website to 'hundreds of search engines' are mostly a waste of time. Here's a test - name the search engines you use. Now name the ones your friends use.
Chances are you are only going to come up with a handful of search engines that are used by the majority of people (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask and a few others). Since the majority of people are using those, those are the ones you need to make sure you are signed up with and noticed by.
About the author:
Leeia Ladipoh is a succesful online business owner, consultant and author.