EXPERT OPINION

Q: “As an online retailer, the No. 1 question I have is, how do I get people to my Web site? How can I go about getting search engine optimization at our fingertips?”
-Charise Richards, One-Chic-Boutique.com, Springfield, Mo.

A: Great question. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a combination of popularity, quality, relevance and value. The more you do to build any of these four categories, the better your site is and the better your search engine rankings will be. So let’s talk about how to build popularity, quality, relevance and value.

POPULARITY: One of the best ways for a search engine to know which sites are popular is to look at how many other sites, blogs and articles are pointing to a particular site. Does your site offer any reason for someone else to talk about it? Perhaps a detailed review of each new pair of shoes you bring on or an in-store event with a local celebrity, high school track team, or charity with pictures of the event posted on your site. Also, looking for opportunities to work with local newspapers and business groups will help build online and offline popularity growth.

QUALITY: During the Super Bowl, John Madden said, “This is a game of inches” to describe a touchdown catch by the Pittsburgh Steelers that ultimately led to their victory. The inches of search engine optimization are the details. They are the difference between a top-ranking site and a non-ranking site. The details of a Web site are primarily the behind-the-scenes magic that allows a search engine to know what’s on your site. Unique meta titles, meta descriptions, meta keywords, alt tags, and an updated sitemap are the standard search engine optimization details that make a big difference. Do a Google search for each of these terms to learn more about what they are, and work to make sure your site incorporates all of them.

RELEVANCE: The reason Shoes.com and Zappos.com are always the highest ranking sites for the term “shoes,” is because that is the one term for which they are the most relevant. By making sure everything you do for your site, from blog posts and news articles to shoe reviews and promotions, is focused on a specific goal, you’ll begin to see the rankings and traffic increase. If you are a Chicago shoe store that caters to designer shoe lovers, then make sure that your site’s content and “details” focus on Chicago designer shoes. You may not rank for the term “shoes,” but your site will always be the most relevant for “Chicago designer shoes.” This is how smaller sites rank higher than the big, national sites and why your site has to have a specific focus, not just be another site that sells shoes.

VALUE: There are two elements to value: value to search engines and value to customers. The value you add to search engines is your unique perspective as portrayed in your blog posts, articles, promotions and the “details” of your site. The unique content you post to your Web site adds value to search engines, but the regularity of this unique content is what keeps the search engines coming back to your site for more information and ultimately helps to maximize your search engine optimization. Remember, the value you add to search engines has to be matched with a value to customers, or you’ll just end up with more traffic without the sales growth you need to run your business.

By focusing on these four areas, you’ll be able to maximize your search engine optimization efforts and be able to grow your site’s traffic, sales and achieve your business goals.

Chris Finken is co-founder and executive vice president of research and development at OrangeSoda, Inc., a company focused on helping small- to medium-sized businesses maximize their online marketing efforts through search engine optimization, paid search marketing and local business listings. Learn more about all the factors of search engine maximization at www.OrangeSoda.com.

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