There was a time when you could simply
put up a decent web site of just a few pages and it
would be indexed and ranked in a week or so. But that
was a long time ago in Internet years. The situation
is very different today, and your small business Internet
marketing efforts need a good, solid link-building strategy
if you want to have any chance of ranking well for your
keywords.
Link building should not be considered a one-time effort.
It should be ongoing throughout your web site's lifetime.
In this way you will build up a powerful set of back
links, all supplying your web site with a solid foundation.
Your small business Internet marketing efforts will
be generously repaid as a result.
One of the factors that search engines look for in
determining the value of a web site is the inbound relevant
links that your site has. These can be any kind of links,
but greater value is placed on one-way inbound links
using relevant anchor text that originates from authority
sites.
What this means is that a site is considered important
by the search engines links to yours, but you do not
link back. The important site also uses a keyword relevant
to your site as the piece of text that is actually clicked
on as the link. Acquiring these kinds of links in your
link-building campaign is not particularly easy, but
well worth pursuing.
Reciprocal links are also useful to get in your small
business Internet marketing efforts. They carry less
weight than relevant one-way links, but they do count,
and they are much easier to acquire. Most owners of
web sites that are similar to yours will be willing
to exchange links as part of their link-building strategy.
The search engines consider many factors when deciding
how to rank your web site's pages. Some of the factors
are on the page itself, and some are external. All of
them are important, but back links to your web site
are arguably the most important factor of all.
In a nutshell, the more relevant links you have pointing
back to your web site, the higher your site will be
placed in the search engine results for any given keyword.
Some of the most popular web sites have millions of
back links. While it may be difficult to compete with
that level of link building, it is still quite easy
to rank well within limits.
It is important that your small business Internet marketing
efforts pay off to the point where your web site ranks
on the first page of any of the major search engines.
Being on the second or third page carries increasingly
less weight. The traffic you will receive will be considerably
lower too.
It should be obvious therefore, that being in the first
or second position on the first page of the search engine
results for a given keyword is what you should be trying
to attain. Most of the major search engines have organic,
or natural search results as well as sponsored links.
Some 80% of searchers will click on the natural results,
and most of these will choose one of the results near
the top.
This is why it is important to rank high, and why your
link building efforts are important too, as this is
one of the best ways to achieve sustainable top rankings.
Small business Internet marketing is not difficult if
you have a solid strategy to implement and you stick
to it. It takes time, but the end results are worth
it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Entrepreneur and outdoor photography
adventurer Caroline Melberg is President and CEO of
Small Business Mavericks, a division of Melberg Marketing.
She has over 20 years of experience creating marketing
communications materials and writing copy for some of
the largest and most successful companies in the world.
Her small business columns are syndicated online, and
she publishes the popular e-Zine “Maverick Internet
Marketing Secrets.” Learn insider Maverick Marketing
secrets you can use immediately to find new customers
and increase your sales. Get your FREE subscription
at www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com
today!
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