Winning Online

How many buzz words do you know? Web2.0 and search-ability, blogs and page rank, search engine optimization and bounce rate, keyword density and organic listings… I could go on and on I promise, but that last one there - perhaps a little further explanation is needed… Organic, yes, IS a term commonly used to describe processes of farming and agriculture, however in our techy-world it also refers to any natural page listing your website has on the major search engines. By natural I mean page listings that have been achieved thru strategic search engine optimization, not ones that you go out and pay for (via pay per click like Google Adwords or YAHOO! Search Marketing).

When you do a search for popular keywords or key phrases, you’ll immediately notice sponsored links along the top and right side of the results page (if there is a demand for these terms of course). Go ahead, try it! Do a keyword search using www.google.com for the term “computers”. You’ll see Dell, Gateway, Microsoft and other computer companies running ads in the top and right side sponsored sections. What they have done is bid on the keyword “computers”, so that when a user enters this term into the search field, the manufacturer’s ad would come up… this is an example of a pay per click model. You’ll also notice that, for most terms, there are pages and pages of results that also match your query for “computers”. These listings are examples of natural or organic listings.

Considering that organic search listings help drive very qualified traffic to websites, the obvious question is… how do you get your site listed organically? And even more importantly, how do you get your website listed at the top of page #1, close to the paid listings? Well my friends, search engine optimization (SEO) is certainly a good place to start. The way that your site is designed and built, the way your site is linked to other sites, the content that you have, even the individual words and the sequence of these words all have an impact on the way that your site gets indexed and ultimately ranked by search engines. A lot to consider ey? It’s a lot to talk about too that’s for sure! Good thing is that we’ve got a whole lot of time and a whole lot of knowledge to share…

Until next time -

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