You can't simply open a new Web site, sit back, and expect to welcome a horde of visitors showing up at your virtual storefront. If you want your online business to be successful, you must promote your site.

Both SEO and paid advertising on search engines can help drive visitors to your e-commerce site. More visitors can ultimately lead to more customers for your online business.

How can you use a combination of SEO and search engine ads to increase your online business and boost your bottom line? I'll give you useful tips on both, based on my real-world experience promoting my sites and those of my clients.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization refers to modifying your Web pages to enhance your visibility in search engine results. If your business sells, say, left-handed widgets, your goal is to be listed near the top of the results if someone performs a search using the keywords "left-handed widgets."

Research shows that if your site isn't within the top 30 search results, very few visitors will click through to your site.

How do you reach that coveted high rank in a search engine? You have to learn to think like the robots (also called spiders and crawlers) that search engines such as Google use to find and catalog Web pages.

First, learn to describe your products and services at your Web site using words that your prospective customers would likely use in a search (most search engines understand words, not images).

Search engine robots give certain aspects of a Web page, such as the page's title and its major headings, special emphasis. Don't squander the potential benefit by using a nondescript title such as "Home Page of Rick's Online Store" (the search bots wouldn't even notice that).

[itbusiness.ca]