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Search engine optimization (SEO) is the cheapest way to get new customers. You may or may not know what is referred to as "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO for short): it is a method for attracting more visitors through search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) to your website. Many businesses like to have a website rich on graphics and visually interesting, but their sites often don't have enough text content. Informative text is reassuring to visitors and it gives search engines something to work on (ie crawl). So where should you start? Let's look at four things you can accomplish.

Establish your points of difference: Why would a customer choose to buy from you rather than from one of the many other businesses just like yours?  Tell visitors about what makes your approach to the business unique. If you specialize in acertain area or approach, tell them how— and why.

Satisfy searchers' need to know: Studies have shown that searchers often use the web to do basic research first. They come back again to communicate, to do business with you or to know more about your business. To the extent that you anticipate and answer research questions, you give your visitors exactly what they are looking for and begin to earn their trust and loyalty. Ask yourself, "What would I need to know if I were in the market for this product or service?" Then think of different ways to present the data to help your visitors see how your service could benefit them. You might also add a "Frequently Asked Questions" page, which can be a powerful marketing tool that raises the questions you think customers ought to ask. Sometimes, just by raising an issue and providing information, you will be able to establish a point of difference. As visitors research other sites, they may look for more information on issues, benefits, and features that that they learned about on your site. If a competitor's site doesn't adequately address something that they have become interested in, you will have gained a little bit of an edge.

Teach: You may not consider yourself an expert in your field, but you probably know a great deal more than you give yourself credit for. Chances are that visitors will appreciate any advice you care to give.

Check your website statistics: Ask your webmaster / website designer to provide your website statistics. One of the great things about adding a lot of text-based information to your site is that you can find out which topics and issues are most interesting to your visitors. Try to improve your content mix using what you learn from the website statistics reports. By keeping an eye on what the numbers are telling you, you'll learn more about your visitors and be able to provide just the information they are looking for.

— Gyanesh Paliwal is CEO and web design consultant with Brampton-based web design company. He can be contacted on tel: 416-823-1248, and email: Gyanesh@3wmagic.com

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