Can New Customers Find YOU? Findability and Your Website Jean Bedord February 17, 2009 Mid-Peninsula Professional Alliance

Why Search Matters Yellow pages declining Newspapers declining Geography may not matter Younger demographics Tech savvy demographics Search now a habit ◦ Grew 38% year-over-year December, 2008 ◦ 18.7 billion searches ◦ 199 million searchers ◦ 93.7 searches per searcher

Search is Querying Indexes Google Yahoo ASK LIVE (Microsoft Windows Live) Other niche search engines… Indexing is FREE, but, but, but………

Website vs. Webpages

OnPage Factors Metadata ◦ Title Tag ◦ Description ◦ URL Keywords in copy on webpages ◦ Match search queries ◦ Customer language ◦ Synonyms, synonyms, synonyms

Off Page Factors / Links Types ◦ Outbound –FROM your site ◦ Inbound – INTO your site ◦ Internal website navigation Sources ◦ Directories ◦ Reviews ◦ Press Releases ◦ Articles ◦ Blog community comments ◦ Pay per Click (PPC) Advertising

Keys to Success Define your niche / value proposittion ◦ Keyword Research ◦ Simple messaging Client Needs, NOT you ◦ Words /terminology ◦ What problem do you solve? Establish credibility ◦ Phone number ◦ Zipcode, geographic location, physcial address ◦ visible, though not linked ◦ Develop inbound links

Action Plan All webPAGES indexed in the search engines? Appearance on the search results page Examine links ◦ Internal ◦ Outbound ◦ Cultivate inbound links Consider adding blog technology for tips and/or events

Resources Book: I’ve Got a Domain Name – Now What?? A Practical Guide to Building a Website and Your Web Presence by Jean Bedord at and Amazonwww.IveGotADomainName.com for recommendations – coming repositioning for EContentStrategies.com Phone: