"What happened then?"

Do you remember reading stories to your children?

Their eyes would fill with wonder and their imaginations would paint vivid pictures as we read the story to them page-by-page, step by step. Pause to turn the page and the child would inquire, "Then what happens?"

Your website should generate that same intrigue to your visitors. Your content should be updated regularly to keep the site current and 'sticky' so visitors will desire to ask, "Then what happens?"

How sticky is your site?

Turn the page

Regardless of whom you hired to be your developer - discuss ongoing site maintenance and updates and keep you content fresh. It will keep your visitors interested and pay huge long-term dividends with the search engines.

And, if your company isn't tuning and optimizing newly updated pages for the search engines you are probably leaving a lot of leads and prospects to your competitors. Turn the page in your story and keep your visitors tuned in.
 

David Williams Provides Organic Search Engine Optimization

SEO Using Only Approved White Hat Tactics

I can't stress this enough - In May of 2003 we wrote, "Local Searches are the untapped resource to drive local customers to your business." And in October of 2003 Google debuted their local search and launched local pay-per-click campaigns.

Local Search Marketing provides you, the business owner, with the most targeted and cost effective customer acquisition opportunity.

Your prospective customers are searching more frequently for businesses and services just like yours on the Internet. Studies show that these customers have a serious buying intent.

As a local business you need to figure out how to cost effectively reach out to these customers and start the business relationship. You need to do this even if you don't have a web site yet!

The Internet has changed the way that customers are looking for your business. 11 pound phonebooks are a thing of the past and while people are still letting their fingers do the walking - it's on a computer keyboard.

Face it - even cell phone users are performing searches for goods and services on the fly - It is time to adapt our thinking.

Effective copy writing is the first step to promoting your web site in your internet marketing endeavors.

We have recognized an increasing trend in search engine behavior that will one day change the way web pages are written and developed. Pages that used to rely heavily on keywords and metatags to lure traffic will soon become a thing of the past.

Trust me on this one as I go on the record to say that soon, the search engines will look at and

review the written copy of the page to determine the page relevance and value to the search query.

When this happens - Effective SEO will become what we have been encouraging since day one. Always write for your clients first - Content is Crucial and Content is King.

The Kelsey research group published these statistics and trends:

• 74% of households use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally.

• Approximately 45% of local searches had a buying intent.

• The percentage of respondents who used yellow page directories decreased from 75% to 62%. (If you have a yellow page ad, it is time to consider buying a smaller ad and shifting your marketing dollars to the Internet.)

As local business owners you need to take action now. You need to keep your existing customers, and gain new customers, so you need to be found where they are searching. Local Search Marketing is where your future clients and customers will come from.

So where do you start?

Well, go back to the first paragraph of this article and you'll notice that Local Searches are now over two years old. It is still free to modify your listings with:

• Google Local

• Yahoo Local

• and so on...

These complimentary features of local search and a little initiative on your part and you'll be well on your way.

BusinessLaw.gov has been incorporated into Business.gov. Before launching your business, be sure to check on specific laws and regulations in your area.

Small Business Administration

"Why do you compress images from their original size before putting them on a website?" Prospective Customer - Alfred, New York

Answer:

Dear Customer,

Short answer is, load times.

The long answer is...

The majority of rural surfers on the internet still use dial-up. It's not that they can't afford high-speed DSL/Cable - it simply isn't available in their area.

This being the case we want to make the pages load as quickly as possible to avoid discouraging potential customers.

If you remember the days of dial-up yourself - you can well remember how frustrating it was to watch a page load in slow motion.

Avoiding large image files is the first step in keeping the load times reasonable.

All the best,

Dave

We offer two great FREE Whitepapers for you to download and employ as brainstorming tools. You can get your FREE Web Site Planner and Getting Started Guide from DavidWilliams.Biz on our Free Whitepapers Page

And I would be remiss if I didn't at least extend you an offer to serve as both your Web Developer AND SEO Firm. If I've already put this much thought into it - imagine how hard I would work for you if I was paid :)

Thanks Again for visiting us!

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