# How to get a small business website known without breaking the bank? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106 "2010-06-30T20:12:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106/21 "2010-07-01T17:05:39Z")
I don’t know if or how I can do meta-tags on a WYSIWYG template like Website Tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106/22 "2010-07-01T17:13:30Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106/23 "2010-07-01T17:19:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106/24 "2010-07-01T17:32:40Z")
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](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. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106/25 "2010-07-01T18:36:38Z")
> [@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? ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106/26 "2010-07-01T23:29:19Z")
> [@wolf-alice](#): > > 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. > [@wolf-alice](#): > > 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? ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106/27 "2010-07-01T23:54:05Z")
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). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-small-business-website-known-without-breaking-the-bank/545106.md?page=1)