Prospatek > Web Marketing - basics explained

Web Marketing - basics explained

Promoting your website on the Internet

---

Web marketing is about making your website visible to new and potential customers on the internet, which is why it should be important to you.

Search engines are used to find information on the internet, and this is generally how your website will be found. They do this by:

• indexing website pages in a large database
• matching indexed web pages with the search phrase used
• presenting the most relevant and popular pages first within the natural result listings
• presenting sponsored listings (pay per click results) according to search words used.

Search engine technology has become very sophisticated, with the aim of presenting results that are relevant to your search phrase. It is now all about presenting an information rich website with words and phrases that are a true representation of the subject - which the search engines are able to analyse and digest! A popular website will be placed higher is a result listing due to the page rank assigned by the search engine. Many factors determine the page rank of a website including number of hits through the search engine and the number of relevant websites link to it.

Google is by far the most used search engine - because it delivers relevant results, followed by Yahoo, MSN then others. Over 80% of websites are initially accessed using search engines. If the actual web address is known, this may be entered directly into the browser, bypassing the search engines.

It is possible to be at the top of a search listing immediately using pay per click advertising, as offered by many of the major search engines. Pay per click may help to begin with, but the natural result listing is important for the long term and will greatly enhance your business profile - and will cost a lot less!

Some facts about search engines:

• If your website is listed prominently with search words relevant to your business, more people will see your website
• The website text needs to reflect your business, this is optimisation or SEO
• Websites are not just "found" by search engines, search engines need telling about your website either via a link or by submission 
• Once indexed, a website needs to be further optimised for relevant keywords and phrases
• Web pages are ranked, based on a popularity voting process. Although the exact mechanism is not published, votes are related to relevant links to the page, page hits, and the page rank of the linking page. 
• Your site may be pages down the result list with the relevant search words
• Your brand will be more prominent on the web if higher up the search result list
• Getting your site recognised high on a result list IS a complex process, the search engine algorithms change regularly and are not published
• There is no guarantee of a search result placing, we can only assist the process
• Websites can take many months to be indexed by Google, and can vanish from Google then re-appear, especially if new
• Google and the other search engines publish guidelines for successful indexing, which must be adhered to
• Don't be fooled by claims of a page 1 result listing within days or weeks, this may happen but with a search phrase that few will use in practice, such as your business name.

The Prospatek search engine optimisation services will promote your website by within the natural result listings.

You may have a great looking website ....
          ......  but the benefit will be more if it can be found easily!