Optimizing Websites: A Necessity

It still amazes me when I come across a marketing company that designs websites, but doesn’t optimize them for the search engines.


What is the point of designing a website that looks attractive and has excellent content describing a company’s product or service? Don’t you want to market your business to the widest possible audience?  I guess, if your business is making a ton of money already, you don’t have to. But how many companies can honestly say they’re in a position to turn away business, especially in this economy?

When you fail to optimize your site for the search engines, your company’s marketing department (or you, the owner, if you have a small business) will have to work that much harder to get the word out. Not to mention, why invest your hard-earned money on a website if you’re not going to maximize its potential?  Talk about squandering your ROI.
If you don’t optimize your website, there are only a few ways someone can find your website online:

• You get the website’s URL directly from someone at the company.
• You link to it from another company’s website.
• You link to it from a social media platform such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

Maybe that’s why some companies feel they don’t need to spend the money on optimizing their website. They think they can get the word out through social media. And they may be right, to an extent.  But optimizing your website doesn’t have to cost a fortune. In fact, you can find plenty of tips online to do this yourself.  At the very least, you should come up with unique, keyword-rich titles and descriptions for your web pages.  You don’t have to worry about coming up with a list of keywords for the meta tag, since the major search engines don’t use them anymore.


But if you don’t have the time or the inclination, hire someone to do it for you. If your web designer isn’t proficient, find an SEO specialist or ask your friends for a referral!

Why “Home” has no place as a website title

How many times have you searched on Google and found a listing where the title only said “Home Page” or “Home”? You have to look below the title to the description to discover the company’s name and/or its business. Why does this happen?

Most likely, it’s a lack of knowledge, time and/or money.
Companies that use “Home” or “Home Page” as the only title for their main landing page may not realize they are limiting their ability to attract new customers.
These firms may not have the budget to hire a web designer and/or a copywriter proficient in search engine optimization who would explain why it’s vital to have keywords in a title.
An SEO copywriter knows that web page titles and descriptions must contain keywords that people use to search for a particular product or service in order to attract the search engines and potential customers.

Some companies try to save money by creating their own sites, using a simple template provided by a website hosting company. But that decision may wind up costing them money, because the failure to include keywords means potential customers may not be able to find their site on Google.
A company that relies on “home page” for its title doesn’t provide any clues about its business. Someone searching online must rely on the description that is displayed on the search engine results page (SERP). But if there are no keywords in the description either, the chances of a site appearing among the first ten or even 20 listings are slim to none.

A few hosting companies won’t let you eliminate the word “Home” from the website’s title. But don’t let that stop you from adding keywords in a short description following the word “home.” If you can’t figure out how do it yourself, ask your hosting company’s technical support group to make the changes for you. And if they won’t do it, find someone else who will.

“Home” may be where the heart is, but your potential customers won’t go there, unless you give them a keyword to show the way.

Welcome or Not Welcome?

Putting “Welcome to (your) Company” on your website may have worked when the Internet was new, but that strategy can cost you sales and search engine rankings today. There’s a better way to attract customers: write benefit-oriented content.

There are millions of websites competing for attention. People are too busy to spend a lot of time reading content. They want to know right away if your site is going to help them.
Instead of literally “welcoming” people to your site – get right to the point, with content that convinces a visitor to stick around, explore your site, and do business with you. Make sure you’ve got a headline that clearly communicates the benefits your product or service offers to a potential customer. You’ve only got about 3-5 seconds to make an impression. Use words that count!
Some companies still put “Welcome” in their title tags as well. This won’t help you with search engine optimization. In fact, it may do the opposite.

Search engines are looking for content. Your title tag should provide specific information about what your company does, with keywords people use to search for your business. And you only have a limited number of characters to get that point across. If your title is too long, the search engines cut it off and replace the extra words with an ellipsis. If you want to communicate more information about your business, use the description meta tag instead.

Welcoming visitors to your site may be polite, but it’s just not necessary. Use your precious title tag and landing page space for clear, concise, benefit-oriented copy. That’s the way to ensure good search engine rankings and higher conversion rates.