How to increase traffic to your website

It’s good for your business to have a website - it’s even better if your customers can actually find it. Appearing in search engine listings and directories is essential if you want to your business to be found by people who are looking for your product or service. But how do you go about it? Here are some simple steps to follow:

Where do you want to be listed? Directory or search engine?

The aim of an internet listing is to get your website included in online directories and seen/listed by search engines. These are not the same thing.

• Search engine listings: Analysis of internet sites by search engines (Google, MSN, etc.) is automated. Robots, or programmes known as “crawlers”, visit a web page and examine its contents; analysing keywords and meta-markers (see glossary) integrated into the HTML files. If the analysis is positive, the pages are integrated into the search engine database, depending on the engine criteria. When a web user carries out a search, the pages associated with the keywords from the search will be displayed in the results. Ninety percent of web users use the main search engines and they are, therefore, in a position to direct a significant amount of relevant traffic to your web site. It’s your job to convert the resulting visitor into a sale.

• Directory: An online directory is a list of sites ordered by business type. When you submit your site to be listed on a web directory, a human being, rather than an automated programme, will review your site to see if it is appropriate to list it. That person will evaluate the site’s relevance to the directory and decide if the site should be included. A directory will specialise in a particular business sector, so can be useful in helping you connect with specific targets. Select which directory you want to be included in and make sure that your website contains content that is relevant to that sector and therefore is more likely to be included in the directory.

This guide focuses on search engine listings, but the principles apply to getting effective listings in internet directories as well.

How to get listed

Firstly decide on the objectives for your website and the types of visitors/customer that you want.
Then you can submit your web site for internet listings yourself, or you can get a service provider (for example, an online marketing or search specialist agency) to do it for you. The steps you need to take are:

Step one: Optimise your site

To stand the greatest chance of success, particularly with search engines, you must first optimise your site. Check that your site content meets the criteria for the directory or search engine listing (for example, that your website contains the keywords against which prospects are searching). Search engine robots will explore your pages looking for particular keywords, HTML text and meta-markers, which provide information on your web site, while remaining invisible to the web user. This information is used by the search engines to categorise and index your site and decide what terms it will be relevant for. You should therefore check and modify your meta data and keywords as necessary to ensure that your pages are relevant to your desired audience (your agency or web designer should help you do this). As we mentioned above, directory checkers will also analyse your site to check that the content is relevant to the directory.

‘Natural’ search listing – ie. achieving listings that rely on the content of your website, rather than ‘paid search’ - is often free, but you may also come across:

• Paid submission. Paying for a submission simply means that your listing will be indexed quicker than a natural listing. It does not in any way guarantee that your listing will be accepted. With this type of accelerated listing, a site will generally be indexed in one to two weeks.

• Paid-for search listing. With a paid listing, your site will be indexed in the database of a search engine, assuming it meets the search engine criteria. This does not necessarily guarantee that your web pages will appear at the top of search results, though they may appear in a list of ‘sponsored’ searches on some engines. It generally takes 48 hours for indexing to take place. This is different from ‘sponsored search’, which we talk about below.

Step 2: Submit your site for listings

Submitting a site for listing, whether on a search engine or a directory, is simple. All you have to do is to go to the home page of the search engine or directory, and find out where to apply. For example, on google.com, click about Google, then submitting your site. You then just have to give your web address, a few keywords, click on add URL and then wait. It may take several months for the search engine robots to surf your pages and rank their interest, so the results are far from guaranteed, or quick to start.

Step 3: Have your site listed by a search marketing company or web designer

Calling on the services of a search marketing company can prove be very useful for search or directory listings. The cost will, of course, depend on the services offered.

• Basic service

The basic package offered by agencies usually includes:

1. A review of your site to identify the improvements to be made.
2. Listing with the principal search engines with an agreed number of keywords. It is very important to have this listing done by an real person, rather than a specialised programme or a robot. They can work more easily to your specifications and those of the search engine.
3. Checks for where you site appears on the web for an agreed period (eg, three months).

These basic services will ensure that you are listed on search engines, but doesn’t guarantee a good positioning (eg, relevance, listing in the results pages).

• Full service

In top of the range packages, the services are more comprehensive, personalised and are spread over a longer period.

1. The site audit may sometimes include optimisation of one or several pages and more in-depth advice on the keywords to use.
2. The number of search engines on which you are listed manually and the number of keywords used is higher.
3. Online are carried out over a longer period, possibly with guaranteed results.
4. The advice given by the service provider is more extensive, eg, the submission of new keywords.

Nothing ever stays the same when it comes to search listings and the keywords relating to your business can change over time. To optimise your internet listing, it may be a good idea to take out an annual subscription

Step 4: Assess the quality of the listing

As with any investment, you should evaluate how your internet listings are helping you achieve your business objectives. There are several ways in which you can assess the quality of your internet listings and the impact they have on the visibility of your web site:

• The growth in traffic. You can measure this using your traffic statistics tools. Ideally, they should also tell you where your visitors come from, eg, directories and search engines, and the details of their searches, ie, the keywords used in their searches. An effective internet listing must increase traffic to your site quickly. You should check that this traffic is delivering the kind of leads that you want; if it isn’t, you should re-evaluate where you are listing or which keywords you are focusing on.
• Your positioning in the results page of a search containing your keywords. The chances of web users clicking on your link are minimal after the third page.
• There are sophisticated analytics tools that you can use from a specialist provider, to assess how your search listings are providing results on your site; these may be worth considering as your business grows.

Step 5: Monitor the results

Once your site has been listed, you should monitor the results. Simple ways of doing this include analysing traffic statistics, the number of pages visited, where web users come from and what keywords they used to find you. And, importantly, whether these users are acting once they arrive at your site . All the information gathered will help you concentrate your efforts on the most relevant search engines, directories and keywords. It will also help you understand your visitors better (eg, where they come from and what their areas of interest are). This will then help you in your internet marketing strategy of identifying the sites which are most appropriate to host your campaigns.