Competing Against Big Budget Web Sites

Utilize Local and Regional Search Engine Listings
If you own a business in Virginia Beach or any other Hampton Roads city such as Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake or Suffolk, get a local listing in Google or Yahoo. To see how local results differ from general results, go to Google and type “public relations virginia beach”. At the top of the page you’ll see “Local results for public relations near Virginia Beach”. Click this link and you’ll see 9 to 10 companies listed for Virginia Beach, VA. We are # 3. This type of list is very popular and powerful when it comes to consumers looking for services or products on the Web.

Know The Consumer’s Mind
Customers prefer doing business locally. But you need to rank high in their Web search or you’ll be buried on page 10, where few customers tread. How do you get there? Sprinkle your Web site with the correct keywords. If you’re a Virginia mortgage company, find out how potential customers search for mortgage services or loans over the Internet. Do they type, “loan companies in Virginia”, “Virginia mortgage companies” or “mortgage loans in Virginia”? One way to know what phrases people use to search for your product, service, issue or cause is through Google Suggest Tool. Not many users, including search engine professionals, know about this great Google tool. It’s as close to reading the customer’s mind as it gets.

Write For Visitors – Not Search Engines
There is no magic formula or special software to get you listed at the top of search engine results. However, there is a golden rule that does the trick -- Content is King. Good content generates great search engine results – period. So go ahead and chat it up, tell people what you do, what you sell, what you provide. But make sure you walk the fine line between legitimate copywriting and overabundance. Search engines will spot the later and penalize you by ignoring your site.

Redesign To Keep Up With The Times
If you provide services or products in Virginia, Virginia Beach or other Hampton Roads cities and have not updated and redesigned your Web site in the past three years, do it. Many Web sites were built by hobbyists or built with old software that is no longer recognized by today’s sophisticated search engines. That means these Web sites are “invisible” to major search engines, and thousands of “eyes on screens” will be looking at someone else’s product, service, issue or cause. The Internet is quickly becoming the primary way most generations search for information, products and services. If you’re not keeping up with the search engines, you’re losing money.

Optimize Web Site Headings Too
Another way to optimize your Web site is to use your keywords in headings, subtitles, page titles (found in the blue bar at the top of your Web browser), bold face and hyperlinks, because these stand out to the search engines.

Rick Vidallon is President of Visionefx, a Web design company based in Virginia Beach, Va. They provide services to national companies as well as small to medium businesses throughout the United States. Rick can be reached at (757) 619-6456 or www.visionefx.net.