When setting up a website there are some simple rules to follow, it may all seem a little confusing at first but you'll be surprised how quickly you pick it up, follow some of these steps and you will see the traffic of your website increase, and with more traffic you will get more custom to advertise on your site.

SEO - This means Search Engine Optimisation, and basically tells search engines like google, yahoo, altavista etc where your site should be located in their searches. If a website is 'optimised' you will feature higher in the rankings. And Search Engines are the number one source of traffic for most websites. Plus in a recent study 75% of people only look at the first 3 pages of a search before they do a new search or use other means.

So the question must be - how do I get my website 'optimised'?

 

MetaTags - All sites should have these - they are essentially the name and description of what your site is, so that search engines can categorise your site correctly. These tags located in the coding of your website at the top and can be easily found. When you have added these keywords and description, robots on the internet will visit your site and index it.

PR - This means PageRank - how it is calculated is not fully known, but a PageRank deems how high up a search your site will feature. They range from 0-10. But bear in mind as we speak google and msn are only 9! So some methods to get a high PageRank includes Backlinks. Sorry that was more lingo - Backlinks are how many sites out there link back to your site, the more of these you have and if they too also have a high PageRank themselves adds to the integrity of your site, and will aid your plight. Thus add your site wherever you can on the web, and directories especially.

MailingLists - It is well known that customers stay loyal. Make a sale, or someone has an interest in your site, then create a mailing list, and keep people coming back.

Forums/PressReleases - Forums are a great way of connecting with people and finding out what is liked. Setting up a football website then who is better to talk to than members on a football website. Whereas Press Releases are posted over a variety of websites, and if impactive enough, or lucky someone will pick up on your news and publish it on their site! Adding the website address in your signature will again help your PR. Some examples include, PRWeb, PRLeap, Pressbox, OpenPR, Free Press Release.