Setting up a website without paying attention to how it will be found by your customers, is like paying for space on an expensive billboard and then finding out it’s been blocked from view by a newly built skyscraper. The skyscraper is like all of the information competing for your customer’s attention. Customers may want to see your billboard, but with a building in the way, it’s impossible! Because you can’t move the skyscraper, you’ll have to advertise in other perhaps smaller, more visible locations to help people find your business.

As you set up your website remember that keywords related to the products you sell, should be the pillars of your website creation. Put keywords in everything from your domain to the text on your site. Help customers find your product.

Another thing to remember is that content is king. Putting keywords on your site without posting good content won’t get your products sold. It will only make visitors angry when they visit. Good, relevant information will help build your brand and help you getting higher rankings on Google.

Taking on SEO may feel like a daunting task, but start small. Here are a few articles on SEO and starting an online businesses, that I found helpful.

Here are a few articles that have great tips about basic SEO:

http://webprojectscebu.com/blog/

http://www.2createawebsite.com/money/product.html

For more tips on SEO and starting an new business add us on twitter: @gogodropship

And then a week goes by, and we have no sales.

Two weeks go by, no sales.

Three weeks, and we’re in a panic.

Four weeks… something is DEFINITELY wrong.

Going into Google Analytics, we see that our bounce rate is through the roof. Ninety percent of our visitors are turning tail and running away! Our products are good, our content is optimized? Why are people fleeing faster than you can say “Bubonic Plague”?

Proper optimization of a website and creation of content are both just the start. Part of building a professional site is creating a professional image for your site. If your site looks like that geeky kid Francis in your neighborhood built it in his spare time, you’re not going to keep a lot of attention. You’ll see those kind souls every now and again that will take a chance on a site that may not be the prettiest, or the cleanest, but by and large if people don’t see a professional-looking website, we’re not going to see any of their money in sales!

In our next articles, we’re going to go into two of the most common causes for a ballistic bounce rate: grammatical errors that would make our old English teacher cry, or a banner that looks to have been a crash course in the basics of MS paint. Stay tuned throughout the week, and let’s find a way to put these problems to bed as soon as possible, to start making that site as successful as possible!

When optimizing for a keyword or keyword phrase within an article, industry experts suggest optimizing the word anywhere from three to five percent. Which means that for every one hundred words in your article that keyword or phrase appears three to five times. However, no matter the importance of repeating your keywords or keyword phrases, I suggest writing useful content not simply content to rank your website.

I cannot stress the importance of a well-optimized title enough. When you search for any keyword or keyword phrase, you will find that the highest ranking results will have all or part of the keyword or keyword phrase in the title. If your keyword is not in your title, your ability to rank just went down automatically. I cannot stress enough the importance of creating a well-optimized title.

Some people will tell you that meta data doesn’t do anything for website optimization. I say, why not take the opportunity to optimize for your keywords or keyword phrases. Some people say that using optimization in keywords is overrated and that the search engines do not pay any attention to them anymore. Well, I would like to say that I think they do matter and I have noticed a difference between the two ideas as I have tried them both out for a while.

Long story short, get your keywords and keyword phrases out there; it’s very important. You can still write content that doesn’t include your keyword phrases but it will be less likely to be ranking the way you would like it to rank.

The delicate balance of the business world may be challenged at any given moment, that’s why so many businesses have to fight ravenously to be the alpha male. Take a pack of wolves, yes I’m comparing business to a pack of predators, there’s always a leader of the pack, the alpha male.

You may have noticed in business that there is usually one company leading with all the other “wolves” biting at his heals. Thus the phrase, it’s a dog eat dog world. Without search engine optimization (SEO) you have about as much chance of being the alpha male as a French Poodle.

I cannot number the amount of times I have heard friends mention a business senselessly struggling without SEO. Most major corporations have entire departments designed essentially to sit and watch for weaknesses and pounce on their prey at just the right moment. One of the most common weaknesses bringing these companies to their knees is the lack of SEO.

So, you’re a small business owner working with a couple dropship companies. You don’t have inventory and you’re perfectly content. You may say to yourself, “I don’t want to be the alpha male, I’m content to work with my dropship companies in peace”. Well, I’ll tell you what, you’re competition is also using dropship companies and is also content with your lack of SEO.

If you choose not to use SEO, you may as well hang a big sign on your door that says, take it, it’s yours. Here’s a real time example for you. I was sitting with a group of businessmen who were discussing various small ventures. One of them jokingly brought up the idea of using dropship companies to sell mullet wigs. They quickly checked out the competition and, realizing that there was little to no SEO in place and more than enough dropship companies to work with, decided that they could bring their competition down with very little effort.

The point is this; unless you want your business to be seen, in the eyes of your competition, as a feeble French Poodle, you better use SEO.