If you’re a business owner, you’ve heard this term SEO hundreds of times. And, even for me, a web guy, the term honestly brings on some significant tension. Let’s talk about it, because SEO is something you need in order to grow, and perhaps we can even make it fun… a little.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and not too many years ago it was only mildly complicated. We web designers would help you write text for your website that had certain key phrases included that were terms people might type into Google, like “Central CT Web Design.” The pros would then optimize the site by adding code that magnified the visibility of those phrases, hoping that Google would see them and rank the website higher.

“Hoping” is the key word here… Never has there been a simple way to know how Google ranks web pages. How it really happens is a closely guarded secret, and one that changes daily. Add to that the fact that the internet grows exponentially every day (estimates say the internet is in the process of quadrupling in size from 2010 to 2015), and it seems like an impossible task.

So what do we do as business owners?

SEO has evolved into a wide range of things, and each on its own contributes to visibility both on and off of your website. These include:

• Traditional SEO, as mentioned above.
• Back linking (adding links to your website from other websites in a thoughtful, meaningful way).
• Content marketing (blogging, e-newsletters, and other methods of adding quality text to your website regularly).
• Social Marketing (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.).
• Video Marketing (Produce regular videos for YouTube and your website).

Got that pit in your stomach yet?

Yes, it is overwhelming. However, you can be excited about the results, because when combined in a regular marketing plan, these efforts outshine all other forms of marketing, except the best one of all – word of mouth.

The best advice to offer is to surround yourself with folks you can trust, and invest some regular time and money into online marketing. Please contact us today, as my firm has built a strong network of trusted providers in each of these areas, and we’re here to help.

(Photo courtesy kromkathog, freedigitalphotos.net)