I wanted to share some thoughts on why everyone should be doing some search engine optimization to their website business. Namely, I want to share 3 common misunderstandings about search engine optimization. As much good information as there is on the Internet, it still amazes me that I hear these all the time. I’m not griping; it is good for business!

1. The first commonly misunderstood notion about SEO is that it is not important to do at all. A customer of mine recently said to me, “why bother with this SEO stuff anyway, it only gets people to my site. It doesn’t make them buy!” In one sense of the word, this is true. SEO is an “art” that is designed to help people find your website from search engines, emails, social media sites, etc. To use an analogy, it sets people into your storefront. In today’s world, though, that is huge! There are literally millions of websites out there world wide. Without some help, you almost have a better change of winning a lottery than someone finding your website.

1. The second commonly misunderstood concept is what I like to call “if you build it, they will come.” This type of marketing centers more on just having a website that is a “landing page” or “squeeze page.” A landing page just wants you to enter an email, and then you can look at the store. There are many of these types of websites out there, that you will find making lots of money with Google PR ratings of O. In most cases, these sites are owned by famous people, or people with massive email lists, that just need a place to market the next affiliate product. You can be “lured in” by offers from some of these places to build websites free, or for a small amount of money. Unless you plan on getting famous first, you might want to do some SEO. If you want an example of 2 people that still do SEO, take a look at Terry Wygal or Jeff Johnson.

1. The final commonly misunderstood concept centers around the idea that “SEO is a one time setup.” Savvy website designers will now optimize your website to be “SEO friendly.” Then, the process stops. The site is prepared, but articles, blogs, emails, videos, audios, banners, pictures all need to be made SEO friendly. I try to do 30min of work on SEO every day for my sites. This is a great way for small business owners to really help their website. Of course, you can outsource this task to others as well. Elance.com is a good source for this type of help.

Till next time,

Ray Province

Celtic Ozark Solutions

Ray Province is an IT programmer in the healthcare industry, and owner of Celtic Ozark Solutions. The company specializes in hardware sales and installation, website development, SEO, and social media integration. You can reach Ray at celticozarksolutions@gmail.com or @celticozarkian on Twitter.