Natalie Rittle

Okay, so I got a call at work yesterday and the first thing I hear is, "I heard I have to have a Web site in order to come up on the Google."

My response...."ummmm yes." But that's not all.

I think what people don't realize is #1 the importance of a quality site and #2 the extreme importance of optimizing it. If you are in a competitive industry at all, it will take some work and extra steps to "make your site come up in the Google."

At Plexus, the sites we build intuitively come with search engine optimization tools built in but that doesn't guarentee that you will automatically rank first in a search engine query - there is much work to be done if that is a goal you have for your site.

First, you must think like your customers...what are they typing in to find you? This will help you identify your key words - then you have to optimize your site based on these words. There are several tools in doing this including keyword density, search engine copywriting and more.

Second, you must analyze your competition and see what activities they are engaging in that is making them rank higher than you.

And third, you have to make sure your site is linked on other highly ranked, relevant site. Link popularity is key to a highly optimized site.

While these are just the bare bones of search engine optimization, it is important to engage if you, too want your site to "come up on the Google!"