So now that you’ve got your website up and running, how do you get people to visit it?

The answer is to make sure your site is SEO– Search Engine Optimized.  There are tools and tricks that you can use to attract the different search engines, like Google, Bing, Yahoo, AskJeeves, and many more.  When your site is properly optimized, you will show up higher in the search rankings when a potential visitor types in the right keyword combination in their web search.

First and foremost – you want to have quality content.  If you can write it yourself, go for it.  Have some fun, write interesting and valuable posts, and share it with the social networks that you are a part of.  Over time, as your site is discovered by more people you will see your traffic grow, and the search engines will rank you highly because you have regular updates that invites new traffic.  Quality content will give your readers something to enjoy when they do find you.  There’s no point in driving traffic to your site if there isn’t anything valuable for them there.

But if you are looking at using some of the available companies to help you increase your search engine ranking, we’ve come up with a bit of a glossary to help you understand some of the terms you’ll come across.

White Hat Methods – These are methods that promote an organic method of increasing your rank in the search engines.  There are many excellent tools that you can safely use to show up on your chosen keywords.  White hat is good.

Black Hat Methods – These are methods that use trickery and deceit to increase your search engine ranking.  Fake links, bad code, and other unscrupulous methods are used to trick the search engines into thinking your site is more than what it is.  Your site, and possibly your IP address, will be banned when you are found to be using black hat methods.  Stay away from them.  Black hat is bad.

Impressions – This is a measure of the number of eyes that see your ad.  When you do a search, the ads that show on the top and side of the page count towards impressions.  Even if you don’t click on them, they are counted in the total.  Good copywriting can help you convert an impression into a click, which results in a visit to your website.  And that’s a good thing.

CPM – Cost per thousand – If you are buying traffic through Google ads, Facebook ads or whichever site you are using, you have the option of buying per click or buying per thousand impressions.  It’s generally cheaper to go with CPM, but there’s no guarantee that they will click on your ad to visit your site.

CPC – Cost per click – When you buy an ad using CPC, you are only obligated to pay for each click.  Clicks can range from pennies to big dollars – depending on how much competition you have for your chosen keywords.

BLT – Bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.  I’m pretty sure this is what they serve in heaven.

Landing Page – This is the page that your visitors will encounter first.  This is not necessarily the first page on your site, as the search engine will deliver your readers to the page that has the keywords on it.  A good plan is to make every page on your site a potential landing page.

Spider – A piece of software that the search engines use to crawl all over your site, sending the relevant information back to the search engines.  Just like in your garden – spiders are good.

Tags (metatags) – These are the special tags embedded in your website that are used to give information to the spiders.  The people that visit your site don’t see these tags, but they are an important part of helping your site be found.

Keywords – These are the words or word phrases that are entered into the search engine when your potential visitor is looking for something relevant to your site.  You buy your ads so when the keywords are entered, your ad shows up.

Keyword Density – This is how frequently the keywords show up in your website.  The more frequent, the higher ranked your site will be when these keywords are entered.  When you use keywords, you want to use them as they are used in natural language.  Writing content for your site for spiders instead of the humans might get you a quick visit, but won’t generate the real traffic that you are looking for.  And remember, spiders aren’t there to buy anything from you.

Keyword stuffed – The act of filling your web copy with keywords in an attempt to lure the spiders to your site.  If the copy you are reading is stuffed, you will figure this out right away.  Balance is the key, but remember to write your content for the people that will be reading it.

This is by no means an exhaustive list – more like just a teaser.  There are many sites available for you to learn more about it, but if you have any questions, leave us a comment and we will try to answer as quickly as possible.

Have fun with your site, and choose the right tools to help bring in your target audience.