Think about searching for something online.  The first thing people do is to type their search terms into a search engine and then wait for the results.  There will be ten to fifteen results on the first page that comes up.  Statistics show that the majority of people never look beyond the first page.  Of those that go to the second page of search results, an extremely small percentage of people keep looking on additional pages.  It is helpful to know a little bit about how websites are ranked by search engines.

Any reputable Arizona SEO company understands that search engines look at a variety of things about a website in order to include it for any given search term.  Of course, the search term must be in the content or words that are written on a page in the website.  The website should have been around for a certain period of time and there must also be back-links to the website from other sources.  In addition, if many people are clicking on the site, it can move up in the rankings.  However, it can be hard to get clicks unless the website is located in the first pages of the rankings.  A new website starts pretty far back, and unless steps are taken, it will not move up in the rankings very quickly.

An Arizona SEO company such as Epic Web Solutions, can provide answers to many SEO questions for people.  They understand that content must be written and linked to each site.  They also understand how to target specific keywords so that the site can move up faster in the rankings for that keyword phrase.  The nice thing is that they have a team of people that they can use regularly to keep the search engine optimization going, since time is one of the biggest factors in moving up in the rankings.

Working with a reputable Arizona SEO company such as Epic Web Solutions (epicwebaz.com) is a great way to get websites noticed by search engines so they can move up in the rankings.

If you own a business that allows you to sell either products or services over the internet, then you should use the services of an Arizona SEO company to help get your website near the top of the search rankings.   Search Engine Optimization, or SEO should be an integral part of any good website design.  While the graphics, colors, and navigation styles of your website are all very important, they won’t make much difference if people cannot find it.

Think about searching for something online.  The first thing people do is to type their search terms into a search engine and then wait for the results.  There will be ten to fifteen results on the first page that comes up.  Statistics show that the majority of people never look beyond the first page.  Of those that go to the second page of search results, an extremely small percentage of people keep looking on additional pages.  It is helpful to know a little bit about how websites are ranked by search engines.

Any reputable Arizona SEO company understands that search engines look at a variety of things about a website in order to include it for any given search term.  Of course, the search term must be in the content or words that are written on a page in the website.  The website should have been around for a certain period of time and there must also be back-links to the website from other sources.  In addition, if many people are clicking on the site, it can move up in the rankings.  However, it can be hard to get clicks unless the website is located in the first pages of the rankings.  A new website starts pretty far back, and unless steps are taken, it will not move up in the rankings very quickly.

An Arizona SEO company such as Epic Web Solutions, can provide answers to many SEO questions for people.  They understand that content must be written and linked to each site.  They also understand how to target specific keywords so that the site can move up faster in the rankings for that keyword phrase.  The nice thing is that they have a team of people that they can use regularly to keep the search engine optimization going, since time is one of the biggest factors in moving up in the rankings.

Working with a reputable Arizona SEO company such as Epic Web Solutions (epicwebaz.com) is a great way to get websites noticed by search engines so they can move up in the rankings.

What they don’t often realize is that the relative value of inbound links goes deeper than that. It isn’t enough to simply have links to your website, they need to be the right kinds of links from the right places.

To help you make sense of search optimization and link building, here are three quick things to keep in mind:

Having other sites link to you is a big deal. Having just a few dozen high-quality inbound links to your website can help your Google position more than anything you could actually change or optimize on your own pages. In other words, Link building is one part of the search engine optimization process you can’t afford to overlook.

To be valuable, an inbound link has to make sense contextually. In other words, Google and the other major search engines put more weight and links that come from sites that are related to yours. Having vendors, suppliers, and industry directories point you is valuable; gathering random links from sites on unrelated topics isn’t.

You have to ask for links in a way that makes sense to other business owners and webmasters. Just because an inbound link would really help your online marketing efforts will doesn’t mean that someone else is likely to give it to you. Instead of simply requesting that people link to your site, point them towards a piece of interesting content or some other feature that will benefit their readers and followers.

Link building for SEO purposes is a big topic but understanding the basics of what the major search engines want to see is your first step towards climbing the rankings on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Take what you know and work with your business web design team to make sense of your inbound link building strategy.

You know that if your website is sitting five or ten pages back, very few people searching will actually get to your link. In fact, some Search engine optimization studies indicate that 75% of people who do a search don’t go beyond the first page of results, and that of the 25% who go to the second page, only about 10% will go on to the third page.  Each website receives a page ranking from the search engines, and that ranking is part of what determines where it is within the pages when a keyword search is performed.   It is important for you that you boost your Search engine optimization so that your site can gain a higher ranking and be found by search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.  You may have a Search engine optimization company that is helping you to improve your rankings, and there are several things that they will need to work with you on in order to help you get the best rankings through Search engine optimization.

The first thing you must do to begin your Search engine optimization is to do keyword research.  This is where you try to come up with words that people will search on that could connect them to your site and your product.  There are Search engine optimization methods of determining which keywords are more competitive and which are going to be easier to get associated with your website.  Your Search engine optimization team may ask you to provide some keywords and can then help you understand which ones are more likely to get you higher in the rankings in a shorter amount of time.

Next, you need to connect those keywords to your content in order to actually realize any Search engine optimization.  You will need to have informative content on your site that uses those keywords and you will also need to have content that contains one-way links to your website that is posted elsewhere on the web, such as in article directories or blogs.  Your Search engine optimization professionals will know how to do this and you will find that it really does work.  Search engine optimization is not something that happens overnight, but with time and serious effort you will begin to see progress.  Your SEO team will help you find some keywords that you can move up in the rankings on fairly quickly, while other more competitive terms are worth the wait.  Soon, your website will be moving up in the rankings and more people will be able to find you.

Hiring a good web design company that understands the complex web design necessary for your site is a very important step for you to take to get your online business going and growing.  However, if you understand some of the basics of how web design works, you will be able to work with your web design team intelligently and will be able to make sure that you are getting the web design elements you need.

There are certain steps necessary for web design.  First, in order to have a website, you have to have a domain name.  This is the URL that connects to your site and is the name that you and your site will be identified with.  You want it to be easy to remember and to connect with the product or service that you are selling.  It needs to be easy for your customers to type in so that they don’t get frustrated and give up trying.  You don’t want it to be too long to remember, but you don’t want it so short that it doesn’t really describe your business or what you are selling.  This can one of the most challenging elements of web design.

Once you have come up with the domain name, you will want to think about a logo that will identify your business to customers who visit your site.  The professional web design team that you have hired to create your site often has logo creation services or can direct you to other sources for this service.  It is important that your customers recognize your site as belonging to your company.  You want to stay away from a logo that looks similar to the logos of other companies; it is important to be original so that your company can more easily be identified.

The site should have informative pages about your company and products as well as a way for your customers to contact you.  If you have a shopping cart, it should be user-friendly so that prospective customers don’t give up because they can’t get it to work.  By understanding what a good website needs, you will be able to appreciate the work that your web design team is doing and you will know whether they are doing a good job.

What do you mean you already knew that?

In all seriousness, Arizona – like any other part of the civilized world – has its share of business web designers and online marketing experts. And yet, we have been able to grow our company significantly over the years. We like to think that a large part of that success has to do with our creativity, and the fact that we build business websites that are as good as, or better than, any other website design company in Phoenix.

But we also know that there is a lot more that goes into keeping our clients happy. Here are five things we do to set Epic Web Solutions apart from our competitors… and why you shouldn’t hire a business web design team in Arizona that doesn’t do any of them:

We design great business website layouts. Although it’s not the only thing that matters, having a good artistic eye is critical to designing a profitable site.

We incorporate search engine optimization into every project. On the other hand, what good is your work of art if no one sees it?

High-quality web hosting is part of the package. This is a piece of the puzzle that a lot of clients forget about, but having your site be online continuously, updated against security threats, and loading quickly is probably more important than you think.

We put customer service front and center. In almost any business, and especially ours, your work is never great until your client thinks it’s great. Getting input and feedback from our clients has been invaluable to our business.

Epic Web Solutions offers business websites at affordable rates. No matter how great your business website is, you have to make more money from it than you spend, which is why we work so hard to keep our fees competitive.

While these might not be the Phoenix web design and search engine optimization “secrets” you expected, they have helped us build a very successful company. So the next time you look to design, or re-design, your company’s website, why not give us a call?

On the other hand, a lot of business owners hate the search engine optimization process. How can they be so excited about the results, and at the same time so annoyed with what it takes to get them?

It’s easier to understand than you might think. That’s because executing a successful search engine optimization plan is a little bit like dieting – it’s a slow, tedious, and occasionally painful process that usually only pays big dividends after you’ve been doing it for a while. And what’s worse, the longer you put it off, the longer you usually have to wait to get into the right kind of shape.

Just as most of us would love to shovel down hot fudge sundaes and still look great in swimwear, the average business owner can barely wait to see all the new leads or sales they’re going to rack up once their search engine optimization plan starts to pay off. But in the meantime, it can be frustrating to keep generating ideas for content, viewing regular traffic reports, and yes, paying web design firms and search engine specialists for the guidance they provide.

In other words, having a great SEO plan is almost priceless, but writing blog posts, articles, and checks in the meantime can quickly get old.

Our advice to you is this: Find a team that truly understands search engine optimization and how it fits into your bottom-line business plan, and then give them whatever they need to get started. Recognize from the outset that it’s going to be a little bit painful and frustrating… but that you’ll be glad you made the right decision when tons of new business starts rolling in.

Simply put, someone who has visited your website, or bought from you in the past, holds an insight and perspective that are very difficult to find elsewhere. For all of the things you think you know about your business, they know exactly why someone decides to click the “buy now” button or pick up the phone to call you… not to mention the reasons they don’t.

Note that this conversation doesn’t even have to be an actual conversation. It could be in person, of course, but also over the phone, or even online. The point is that you want to ask potential customers things like:

• What would you like to see more, or less, of on this website?
• What do you like about our competitors’ websites?
• What is your favorite feature of our existing site?
• How did you find this website in the first place?

Are you going to get all of the answers you want from simply asking these questions? Probably not, but what you will likely get is a good starting point for understanding how the men and women you are trying so hard to market view your pages. This might sound like a small detail, but it can stop you from making a disastrous change, or copying a competitor who really isn’t as well-liked as you thought.

Metrics and expert opinions always have their place in business web design and online marketing. But if you really want to make your company more profitable over the Internet, don’t forget to ask your customers for their input once in a while.

To help you understand why, and succeed in your own search engine optimization campaigns, we’ve tried to put them into a simple, easy-to-remember system. Here are the three P’s of good SEO for small businesses:

Planning. You shouldn’t change anything on your business website, not a single page heading or meta-tag, until you have had a business web designer or search engine specialist help you to find the right keywords and phrases to optimize. Which ones are the right ones? The keywords that don’t just bring you lots of traffic, but also buyers who are looking for more than just quick information.

Persistence. The interesting thing about search engine optimization is that it isn’t so much something you do as much as it is a process you start. That’s because you’re never really finished; even when you have taken the top spot for some of your most important keywords on Google, it’s still necessary to keep fresh content and updates coming. This is especially true when you are still trying to climb your way up the search engine rankings.

Patience. If there’s one thing that is consistently frustrating for business owners when it comes to search engine optimization, it’s that it takes a decent amount of time if you are operating in a competitive market. Plan on waiting at least three months before you see any real bottom-line improvement. That might seem like a while, but it’s worth the wait.

There is more that goes into the technical side of search engine optimization, to be sure. But, if you are armed with this understanding and the help of a good web design and online marketing team, then the three P’s of SEO will take you a long way.

In fact, hurricane Irene was a prime example.

Although damage from the storm was by far and large less severe than it was predicted to be, it still caused major problems up and down the East Coast. And believe it or not, there are a few things we can draw from the experience that bear directly on your company’s SEO plan.

Here are two lessons on search engine optimization from hurricane Irene:

Things don’t always go where we expect them to. Although teams of meteorologists and experts plotted its course on an hourly basis, Hurricane Irene still ended up making landfall in a place where it wasn’t expected, and promptly took a direction no one predicted. As a result, several communities weren’t ready for the rain and wind they received.

What does this have to do with your website? Visitors aren’t always going to arrive on the pages you hope they will, or click through on the links you would like them to. For that reason, it’s important that every part of your business website be ready to sell. An important part of search engine optimization is converting traffic into customers, and you should be prepared to do that from any page you have.

You have to plan for the unexpected. This isn’t exactly new advice when it comes to online marketing, but it’s still needs to be mentioned once in a while. Because Google, Yahoo, and Bing can change their algorithms at any time, you never know when your current flow of traffic is going to be washed away.

Very frequently, minor adjustments to search engine algorithms work themselves out over time; once in a while they don’t. Either way, it’s a good idea to have other online marketing avenues in place. Relying solely on search engine optimization is fairly common, but it makes sense to be ready for any change in the weather, because you never know what can happen.

One of the most common things we see as a legitimate website design and SEO company in Arizona is all the fakes.  Companies that can “get you to the top in 7 days guaranteed” are usually using black hat techniques that will in the long term eventually get you banned or they are targeting keywords that no one is searching for, or have no value to your companies target audience.  Just remember that Google and other popular search engines have algorithms in place that prevent you from out ranking other companies overnight.  Just remember Google loves fresh, relevant, usefull content that’s valuable to it’s users.

Web design and SEO work hand in hand, so if you are choosing an web design company that doesn’t offer any type of SEO than do your research as having that all under the same roof will be more efficient and probably less expensive.  When starting an SEO campaign, it will most likely require changes to your website to fix critical on page elements which will go much smoother if the same company is performing the web changes.

Epic Web Solutions specializes in making websites rank well and look good.  Call us today to find out how we can help your website rank better.