Having your web site found through the search engines may be a bigger challenge than you imagine. A few years ago, search engines were looking for web sites to fill their content and sites were automatically indexed and easy to find. With the proliferation of web sites on the Internet, it is increasingly difficult to find and to be found. Knowing that 80 per cent of Internet users reach sites through search engines, it is essential for web site owners to consider hiring a search engine marketing firm (SEM) to set up an online marketing strategy.

Here are some of the things that an internet marketer would do to position a site:

Your web site will be examined from a search engine perspective (structure, navigation, links, page weight) to make sure there are no html errors or technical elements that prevent search engines from visiting and indexing your web site.

Choosing the right keywords is the most critical element of any internet marketing strategy. The keywords you use will either cause your site to attract high volumes of targetted visitors or break your listings in the search engines. Internet marketers use keyword softwares to find the most effective keywords for your web site based on popularity (how often people search for a determined keyword) and competition (how many competing sites use a particular keyword).

Search engine optimization consists of adding to your web site elements that will enable search engines to identify, understand and rank your web site. Each page of your site will be considered independently because that's what search engines do. For each page, an internet marketer will write meta tags (codes that describe the contents of a web page), add Alt Tags (Alternative Text for Images), calculate keyword frequency, check the length of your body text and make suggestions to give your site the best chances of achieving high rankings.

Submitting your site to the search engines and directories is complex and time consuming. Search engines and directories have different policies - some provide results to others, some charge fees to review web sites - and submission rules constantly change. A professional will submit your site manually (automatic submission softwares are no longer tolerated by most search engines) and suggest any paying programs that would be beneficial to your web site.

5. Build links

The number of links that point to a web site is an important ranking criteria called 'link popularity'. The more you have other web sites linking to your site, the more search engines consider your web site as important. A lack of inbound links may results in search engines dropping your site. Link building is usually done through submissions to top-industry web sites and directories, regional or local directories.

Ranking monitoring should be done at least once a month. Your position on the search engines can change dramatically and unpredictably as new competitors go online or when search engines change their ranking criteria. An internet marketer will keep a close eye on your positions, analyse the search results and make changes to your web site accordingly.

Traffic analysis should be done on a regular basis to check if your online marketing strategy meets your objectives and if your visitors are converted into sales.

Contact us today for free expertise for your web site!  Our calgary internet marketing firm can help you increase your traffic and sales.

The Three Marketers is an internet marketing company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.