The Internet, Websites, Search Engine Ranking and the Yellow Pages

There you are one day. Sitting at your trusty computer and 'playing' on the Internet. It's amazing! You download a couple of songs, watch a movie trailer, catch all the latest news – but only what's of interest to you, take a look at your up-to-the-second stock portfolio, and finally check out the pictures of your cousin's wedding on top of Mount Kilimanjaro – taken less than an hour before. You love it. You don't understand it, but so what – you know how to use it, and how to get what you want from it. But one day you realize that you need to get your business on the Internet, and now you clearly need to start to understand some things about this whole World Wide Web thing – aka 'the Internet.'

Don't expect to read this article and know about the Internet. In fact, you could read a thousand books, and still only know a very small part of it all. And by the time you finished reading the books, the whole thing would have evolved anyway. This article will give you a bit of a heads-up on several things that are commonly unknown or questioned, and it will give you a bit of extra insight into the world of websites and the need to appeal to search engines.

Step 1 – get your domain
The domain will be the actual name of your website. If your company name is Acme, then the logical choice would be "acme.com." That domain may not be available, however, and so you may need to pick a different domain name. Maybe "theacmecompany.com" is available, or perhaps "theacmecompany.net." You can find out by visiting: www.networksolutions.com. If you find an available domain that works for you, you can also buy it at that site in increments beginning with one year. It's just a few dollars a year.

Step 2 – hosting your domain
Once you get your domain, you will need to have it hosted. Go with someone large and reputable – enough said. Once you get hosted, you will have a place on the Internet to put your website – or under "construction page," for now. Once you sign with a hosting company, you will get a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) – which will be precisely what people will type in their browsers to get to your site. If you go with an insecure site, your URL will begin with http://www. If your site is secure, such as when accepting credit cards payments, then there will be an 's' after the 'p.'

Step 3 – building a website
Everyone and their cousin's dog does websites – or so they think. If you're building a class website for your business, then get the best web company you can afford. Look into www.digitalelaborations.com. There's a vast difference in companies that build websites, and what looks cheapest isn't always that at all. Also, a 'pretty' website is not necessarily an effective website – on several levels. If you just want to get a web presence, and not really use the site for much of anything, then look into package plans available from Yahoo and others. These packages are really cheap, and allow you to build your own site right on line. Broadband recommended!

You could put websites into two categories: Static and Flash. Speaking very basically, 'static' sites have no animation or music. Flash is a program from Macromedia that ingeniously makes animation and sound files suitable for the Internet. The Flash reader is free, and it is estimated that it is on about 97% of the world's computer systems. Static sites tend to be more boring, but run faster and are easier for search engines to crawl and index – more on that next. Flash sites take longer to load on the visitor's computer, but are customarily much more interesting and 'lively.' Flash sites cost more to build – sometimes substantially more. Flash sites also take longer to develop, and will use more bandwidth – which means your monthly hosting fees may be a couple of dollars higher.

Step 4 – SEO your site
SEO stands for 'search engine optimization.' The better website building companies will do a good job of the SEO when they are constructing the site – much of this is done in the code. SEO is something you need to be concerned with because it will largely dictate your ranking in the search engines. Frankly, if you're going to do business on the Internet, then the search engines affect the outcome of your endeavors more than almost anything else.

A common misconception about search engine ranking has to do with the way your website (or any website) is located by World Wide Web surfers, and those interested in your wares or services. Let's again call upon the Acme Company site for an example that will clarify what you want out of your site's SEO.

Acme Company sells lawnmowers, and all things associated with lawnmowers. Naturally, Acme Company wants its site to be ranked highly (on the first page) when people type in "acme company" in the search engines – such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and so forth. But that's really not that important. What the Acme Company REALLY wants is to come up on the front page when people search for the following words – and more:
• Lawnmower
• Lawnmower parts
• Lawnmower service
• Lawnmower repair
• Riding lawnmower
• New lawnmower
• Lawn equipment
• Landscaping equipment
• Also on the list would be: mowers; mower blades; small engine repair; rotary mower; electric lawnmower; and so on and so forth…

Now, if the Acme Company has all three of its stores located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, then it should try to get onto the first page of search engine results whenever the above list of words is used in conjunction with "Santa Fe" and/or "New Mexico." Coming up against local competition for search engine ranking is much easier than against national or global competition – such as insurance companies and finance companies must. Try to think of it all as the old "Yellow Pages®." You want your site to be found by people searching for what you have to sell or offer, not what your business name is.

A final word of caution: nobody can guarantee search results. When your new site is up and running, and you realize you need SEO, don't do business with anyone who will guarantee a certain position. If they have the experience and expertise, they can give you a ballpark on where your site will come up – but they cannot promise anything in this respect. Ergo, be suspect of such promises, and the companies and people offering them.

Please note that the materials included in this WEB SITE are provided by the site owner, www.dotcomtucson.com of Tucson, Arizona for general information purposes only, may not reflect the most current legal developments, are not provided in the course of an attorney-client relationship and do not constitute legal advice. They are not intended to be a substitute for obtaining legal advice from legal counsel.