The field of online marketing is a diamond with many facets – the trick is finding the right sparkle on a well-traveled path.

Marketing your website

An important tool is Search Engine Optimization. This is typically done through a targeted use of keywords or phrases that visitors may likely use when conducting an online search. By going directly to the source (in this case Google) we can learn a few things about how websites are ranked.

1) A web crawler (Googlebot) indexes the pages of your website for ranking purposes.

2) An index is created for each page that allows the search to be performed more quickly.

3) A rank is determined for your website based on pertinent keywords or phrases.

4) A rank for your website is further enhanced by the number of links from other web sources to your web page – the more reputable the linking sources the greater weight in site ranking.

5) The use of a specific keyword or phrase will also increase your ranking if those exact words are typed in the search window.

6) It may not seem fair, but a site with a greater overall reputation or that has been in existence for an extended period of time is typically given more weight in the ranking process than a newer site.

7) Once Google completes their scoring process for each page, based on keywords or phrases, the rankings are adjusted on their search engine.

What have we learned?

• The primary lesson for online marketing is that optimizing your website is a long term objective.

• Keywords and phrases play an important role in site ranking.

• Encouraging other sites to link to yours is a positive way to increase your search rank.

By understanding the method one of the more famous search engines use to rank sites you can learn to patiently work to establish your websites as reputable and fully optimized.

Never allow your site content to remain static. Continually work at adding reputable and solid content that will be advantageous to your visitors and ultimately to your site ranking.

Avoid overstuffing articles with keywords or phrases in an attempt to gain a higher ranking. Google indicates they ultimately penalize these sites when such ‘spamming' techniques are discovered. Some site owners have even added invisible keywords to their site to increase their rankings. This path may work in the short term, but damages your ranking and does a real number on your perceived integrity.