Most small business owners who have an online presence want to know how they can rank higher than their competitors in search engines.  After all, the higher a site ranks, the more visibility it gets which should result in more income for that company. Everyone wants to be first and that is why being first can sometimes be very difficult to achieve.

Aside from hiring a SEO company, there are a few things that you, as a small business owner, can do to improve the ranking of your website online.

1. Forget about the tricks. SEO is about optimizing relevant information and making it stand out. “Tricks” may have worked in the past but not anymore.

2. Be as descriptive as possible. If you have trouble writing, hire someone to write easy to read and descriptive information on your website so people can easily understand what services you offer.

3. Setup profiles for your small business on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter… The more places that reference your business online, the better your chances are for being ranked in search engines.

4. Do not over optimize.  Repeating words over and over on web pages, also known as keyword stuffing, was a trick that may have worked in the past.  Search engines have since evolved and this “trick” may actually do more harm than good.

5. Keep your website fresh by adding content to it on a regular basis.

There are many factors that determine where your website will rank among your competitors. It will be easier for you to rank in less competitive markets so if you find the competition to be fierce, getting your website to rank can be a full time job.  I always tell my customers, SEO is not rocket science but it does take a lot of time if you want to see results.  With the easy to implement tips above, at least you can get the ball rolling.

What are some things you have done to improve visibility of your website?