The 7 Deadly Sins of SEO

Can you identify with any of the following?

– Your company web site has been up for months, but you haven’t made more than 2 sales or received a single inquiry!

– When you do a search for your web site (keyword or business name) in your favorite search engine, it comes up on the 5th page

– Once you find your web site in the search engine, there is no descriptive title or description to let people know what your site is about

If you found yourself agreeing with one or more of these statements, then you might be committing one of the 7 deadly sins of search engine optimization (SEO).  Business on Main writer, Vanessa Fox, shares several mistakes site owners could be doing that leaves their web site at the bottom of the search engines.

These mistakes include:

Keeping search engines in the dark about your content. While having flashing widgets can make a web site look nice, it can also make it invisible to search engines.  Unfortunately, search engines (and many mobile phone browsers) cannot decipher Flash.  To them, your site shows up as one blank page. Consider creating an HTML version of your site or being very selective about where you use Flash.

Using general linking text. Some site owners make the mistake of creating “click here” links.  While “click here “is a call to action, it does not indicate what the visitor will get when he or she clicks. Instead, use descriptive linking language, like click here for a 50% off coupon on your next purse purchase. Not only does it help your site visitors, but it also helps search engines understand more of what your page is about.

Leaving out a call-to-action. Getting new site visitors is awesome. I’m sure it feels good to log into your site’s statistics program and see that traffic has increased from month-to-month. This is only a win if you were able to convert some of those visitors into buyers. One way to do this is to include what’s termed a “call-to-action.” This call-to-action is something you ask visitors to do. For example, you may have products available for sale, so you ask visitors to call now. You may encourage potential clients to set up a consultation online or even visit your store during the listed business hours. The important thing to note is that you get them to do something.

Continue reading about the other mistakes that could hurt your web site’s search engine ranking.

Are you guilty of one of these SEO crimes?  Share how you plan to bounce back in the comments. If you’re looking for more tips, visit my free training on how to increase your search engine ranking and help visitors buy from your web site.

 

Disclaimer: My blog is a part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis.  The opinions, however, are all mine. :-)

 

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About Dequiana Jackson

Dequiana Jackson, Founder of Inspired Marketing, Inc., helps overachieving women entrepreneurs conquer limiting beliefs and create marketing plans that grow their businesses. This includes one-on-one marketing plan development, digital product creation, web design and content marketing. Dequiana is the author of Know Your Business: How to Attract Ideal Clients & Sell More and runs the award-winning blog, Entrepreneur-Resources.net.

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