Where's My Website Traffic?

The quote from the movie, Field of Dreams says: "If you build, it they will come." Unfortunately, this is not the case with websites. You can put together a wonderful website that may not get much traffic. How can that happen? It comes down to Search Engine Optimization.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

It is the process of preparing a website so that it is "search engine friendly" so that your website may be listed on the first page of search results for the keywords your target audience will be searching for. Many books are written about SEO, and entire businesses are devoted to improving their clients' "page rank" from search engines.

The process of how search engines determine these rankings is shrouded in mystery and based on complex mathematical formulas most humans cannot understand. However, there is some information about how search engines determine rankings which has flitered down:

The more web traffic you get, the higher your search engine rankings will be. The search engines figure that if a lot of peple are visiting your website, you must have something worthwhile to offer them.
The text on your website is quite important. The search engines read through all of your web pages looking for keywords which they will try to match up to what your customers are looking for. If your website is all pictures, you don't have anything to contribute to this process.
If you have just started up a new business, and your competitors have had websites for many years, you will have a tough time climbing up to the top of the search results. Your competitors are benefiting from point #1 (above).
There is programming code, called "metatags" that you can't see on a web page, which affects how well it is prepared or "optimized" for search engines. Some web designers ignore this code, because it is not exciting or creative to fill it in correctly. And it is hard to explain to clients what "metatags" are, and why they should pay you to fill them in correctly.
If your metatags are filled in incorrectly, they can do you more harm than good. The rules and guidelines are different for each search engine, and they change, so what used to work may not work anymore. For example, if your web designer has put the same keyword into a metatag more than 5 times, your entry will probably be rejected, because that is against the rules.
If you are still reading, you have begun to understand how complicated and mysterious search engine rankings are. And we have not even scratched the surface! If you want to know more about it, visit Wikipedia.

What Can Be Done to Get More Traffic?

Before you give up, why not find out why you're not getting the traffic that you were hoping for? Perhaps there is a problem that would be easy to correct. Linden Tree Web Works can look at your website, including the metatags, tell you if there is something preventing your website from getting the desired traffic, and explain how to correct it.

More Successful Strategies

You can drive traffic to your website by methods which don't directly involve the search engines:

Place an ad which includes your web address in the phone book (the paper version or the online version)
Place an ad in small local magazines, or with the Chamber of Commerce. You're a member already, aren't you? If you are, the Chamber will link to your website.
Place an ad in a church bulletin, theater playbill, or in sporting events materials. (One of my best clients found me in her church bulletin.)
Make sure you are listed in all of the free and low-cost directories that apply to you.
Be a walking advertisement. Get shirts imprinted with your logo and web address. Bring business cards along so you can give them to anyone who looks interested.
Put your logo, tagline, phone number, and web address on your vehicle.
Make sure your suppliers and clients have a link to your website on theirs.
If you have a winning strategy not listed here, e-mail me, and I will add it to the list!