How to get a small business website known without breaking the bank?

[Bearflag70]

I was wondering how to get a small business website known without breaking the bank.

It's one of those prefab Website Tonight deals from GoDaddy. Nothing fancy.

I'm at the point of having the website format and content almost complete.

Then, I will need to find ways to get the site to be viewed by potential clients.

I've heard of SEO and heard that it could cost upwards of $1,000 per month. That's ok of the return on investment is there, but is there some way to start smaller to reduce the up front cash investment as you assess the cost-benefit? Can you work your way up to higher priced SEO as your cash flow allows? I don't want to be stuck forking over $1,000 per month right out of the gate only to go bust if the website is not effective.

Any other ways to get a website seen by search engines and potential clients?

[Really Not All That Bright]

Googlebombing?

[Bob Ducca]

Somebody posted a link in another thread recently about a woman who blogs about SEO and how she created some imaginary object (sweaters for monkeys or something equally odd) and within a few weeks she was the #1 hit on Google using all kinds of keywords. Maybe someone will know what I'm talking about and find the link.

[Bearflag70]

As of now, the site doesn't even come up when I search Google for my own name. That's not good.

[Superfluous Parentheses]

IMHO, $1000 for SEO even once is completely too much money for a small site. And many of the "strategies" people use to force themselves up the ranking in google can also mean google will drop that site from their index.

Google will find you anyway if

1. your site is mostly HTML and not some kind of Flash/AJAX monster.
2. the terms you're looking for are actually on your site. preferably in the title / start of the page.
3. people link to you.

3 is an important factor in how high you score, but if you're just starting, you can easily notify google of the the existence of your site at http://www.google.com/addurl/

It will take a few days for google to add your site to their index. After that, you SHOULD be able to find your site in google as long as you're searching for something fairly unique to your site.

[Bearflag70]

Oh, and I'm a n00b, so I don't have a clue about this stuff. Is there a good book on it?

[Markxxx]

First of all you aren't gonna get rich by SEO. The two leading websites Amazon and eBay have click through rates of less than 30%. Meaning that those who see them through a Google Ad or Google Search even CLICK on the ad. And the conversion rates are much lower. Meaning those who see and click actually buy.

Successful website measure in tenths of one percent.

Anyone can get on top of Google for a keyword IF that word is unusual. But try getting on top for the word Computer.

If you want to start SEO, the place to start is SearchEngineWatch (dot) Com (http://searchenginewatch.com). Read the forums and see what's involved. Do it yourself. Remember as you design your site to take advantage of these concepts. Web designers are most often NOT SEO experts and vice versa. You often have to make compromises in both areas to achive results everyone is happy with

You need to do old fashion market research. Who will my customers be? How can I get in touch with them? Will they buy from the Internet? (You will find a lot of people like to look online but want to call to place an order)

Google updates it's algorithms, sometimes daily, sometimes monthly, sometimes...Who knows, Google does and doesn't share that info, 'cause the idea is to give you the BEST search not, the one that will necessarily sell you something.

Getting to the top of Google ins't going to translate into sales. If no one wants what you're selling that is. And SEO person, at best, could only guarantee a top placement in Google. And those who offer such guarantee often do it by ad placement in Google, which anyone can do OR by keywords that are so rare anyone can get to the top of Google.

[multimediac17]

It's hard to judge whether it would work depending on what the product was, but if there's a significant online community out there that would be interested, set up a Twitter account for the business and follow as many potential clients as possible, and as long as what you post isn't constant, blatant spam, they should follow back.

I set up a website for my music writing last year and it became popular through Twitter and through me connecting with lots of music fans, my total views would probably be half what they are today without it. Anyway, it might be completely useless and irrelevant depending on what you're doing, but I thought I'd mention that it was a powerful promotional tool for me and cost nothing - just a bit of time and effort.

[Bearflag70]

It will take a few days for google to add your site to their index. After that, you SHOULD be able to find your site in google as long as you're searching for something fairly unique to your site.

I "published" the website yesterday. I just did the Google thing you suggested just now. Does that explain why I get absolutely nothing when I search Google now?

[Superfluous Parentheses]

Oh, and I'm a n00b, so I don't have a clue about this stuff. Is there a good book on it?

IMHO search engine optimization is just an overblown part of promotion/advertising. You have to think about if it's really worth the effort to come up #1 on searches for "dinglewidgets". Are your potential clients people who'll search for "dinglewidgets"?

There are a few technical things you can do to make certain your site can be indexed at all - which should already have been done - and some tricks that might skew results for certain terms, but who cares unless your aim is to become THE #1 DINGLEWIDGETS SELLER ON THE INTERNET.

What you want is to have people link to your site from other sites that are about related topics. That will increase both your search engine ranking, and much more more importantly: it will get actual interested people to your site.

If you've got a site about DINGLEWIDGETS, search for blogs / news sites etc that are interested in that topic and send all of them a press release. Just a paragraph or two describing your site. Many news sites/aggregates/blogs are very happy to include pretty much your whole press release in their page. Easy for them, good for you.

[VarlosZ]

Join lots of message boards, then ask each one for advice about your small business website. Post links.

[Superfluous Parentheses]

I "published" the website yesterday. I just did the Google thing you suggested just now. Does that explain why I get absolutely nothing when I search Google now?

Probably. If the site is only really available since yesterday, google probably didn't even know about it. That's what the "add URL" thingy is for - it means google starts indexing your site ASAP (otherwise, it'll only start indexing your site once it finds a link to it from some other site that it already has in its database).

[Bearflag70]

I see. Thanks.

At this point, I don't need to be #1 in the ranks as long as I come up somewhere near the top and not many pages deep.

[Bearflag70]

Currently, I don't see any helpful Google hits for my potential clients when I search for [my city] [my services offered].

So, I'm thinking it shouldn't be too hard to to get toward the top so long as Google can find me. (?)

[Bearflag70]

Even when I search for [my state] [my services offered], the hits only go for a few pages before they get off point for what my potential clients would be looking for. After a few pages, the hits start veering off into news articles about the topic pretty quickly rather than links to people who offer services in that area.

[Kimmy_Gibbler]

I'll go to your website. What's its address?

[wolf-alice]

Also, put Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) on if you haven't already. It's Google's own tracking and statistics tool - it's free and useful and user-friendly.

Run through a SEO training blog. There are lots, but I like Jan Klin (http://www.janklin.com/blog/seo-lesson-one/) - he came to do our training a couple of times and I've always found him friendly and helpful. Although I think some of his stuff might be a smidge outdated (importance of meta tags might be overstated, for example - nothing major), his information is useful - he's willing to help out over email if you run into any minor issues as well.

Although Google probably won't have your site indexed yet, you can determine your site text is relevant. If you're searching for "computer repair washington", for example, you're not going to appear in the listings if all your site text references "Bob's PC shop". Do your page titles, H1 and H2 tags, and internal links reference your keywords? If you don't know what these terms mean, Jan covers them :)

If you haven't done so already, generate a Site Map (http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/). Also if you're not indexed in, say, a week, check your robots.txt - again, Jan will explain this.

Lastly, do not spend any money on your SEO, definitely not now and probably not ever. Although there certainly is money in professional SEO, it should be exchanged mostly between companies after top-ranking in the competitive terms, like "computer" and "jewelry" and "porn". If you're targeting stuff like "computer repair washington", there's no reason you can't be entirely DIY.

The industry is rife with absolute sharks. If you're promised the earth and especially if they cold-called, run far, far away.

[Crowbar of Irony +3]

You may be able to get some idea from Fivrr (http://www.fiverr.com/). I have never tried it, but it is a site which people offer services for $5. One notable service helpful for the OP would be the "I have 500 Facebook friends. Pay me $5 and I will favourite your page".

Of course, no idea if it is just a rip off.

Proper SEO is one way to go. It's not too hard to manage it by yourself, especially if your shop is setup using some form of blog, like WordPress. You can try to draw in traffic by offering tips, advices or starting a blog. In short, fill out the meta tags for your pages, include relevant text and etc.

Google takes some time to index the board. Make sure your site is actively updated. Visit forums pertaining to your business and put a link there as your signature, if it is allowed.

[jjimm]

Good advice here. Also read what I (and others) wrote in this thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=562949). What I have given there is basic housekeeping to start with.

[Really Not All That Bright]

I've been looking everywhere for a reliable supplier of dinglewidgets!

[Bearflag70]

I don't know if or how I can do meta-tags on a WYSIWYG template like Website Tonight.

[Crowbar of Irony +3]

You will need to learn some HTML; or get a freelancer to help. But $1,000 is crazy. More like $50 to just fill in some meta tags.

[Bearflag70]

I'm looking at someone else's site who offers similar services. He has his own site. He also has a blog on a standard blogging site. All his blog entries link to his site.

[nicole1912]

If you only made your site just recently, it takes Google a while to index it. So don't panic if it's not showing up in your searches just yet - it might take a week or so.

http://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization has some useful advice; you want to make sure there are links to your site in as many different (relevant) places as you can - better still if those links are made up of your keywords, rather than just the URL itself, but the more links leading to your site, the more Google and other search engines think you're important.

I would also emphasise the advice above not to pay for anyone to magically optimize your site for you. Particularly not to the tune of $1,000.

[Bearflag70]

I'm looking at someone else's site who offers similar services. He has his own site. He also has a blog on a standard blogging site. All his blog entries link to his site.

Would this help get noticed?

[GESancMan]

Do your page titles, H1 and H2 tags, and internal links reference your keywords?

As far as header tags, does Google only look at H1 and H2? I'm currently using both plus H3 on a site I'm putting together for a friend of mine.

If you haven't done so already, generate a Site Map (http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/).

Is it worth creating a site map if the final web site is only going to contain three or four pages?

[ianzin]

Hi Bearflag70. I run a web-based business and have done for over ten years. Very successful, front page search rankings, customers in over 50 countries, profitable enough for me not to need any other source of income. I have never spent so much as a single penny on either advertising or so-called SEO strategies, and I never will. Total waste of money.

Email me if you want more details. (Profile for addy).