Build a website, get your business online. But a great website is the only first step for businesses trying to establish an online presence. Finding a website, not by typing the website or company name into a browser, but instead, someone Googling for the company offerings and not including the company name is a more robust online presence than merely having a website. It is only useful to have a website that can be found by the company name or website address for reference purposes; checking out a business by name.

But finding a company based only on the products or services they offer is the goal of an online presence. This brings new customers to the business that would otherwise not have found it and usually leads to increased sales. This is the power of the internet for small businesses.

Through careful design and development of a website beyond merely its aesthetic appeal, a website can be more likely to be included in the first few pages of the search engine results.  Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is a process that convinces search engines to rank some sites higher than others. While design and content on the website are important, SEO achieves much more by creating links from relevant sites back to the company website. The search engines use these links as part of the ranking equation when it comes time to decide which sites belong on page 1.

An interesting exercise would be to compare two websites for similar companies with one having just a website and the other using a search-engine-optimized design coupled with SEO online marketing techniques. Landau Consulting, a New Jersey SEO company that provides consulting in internet marketing and SEO services has shown this comparison in this infographic.

Paul Petersen