A great website is the first step for businesses trying to establish an online presence. Having an online presence can mean simply having a website that people can look up when they see your business card making the website an online business card, but it can be so much more.
If a website can be found, not by typing the website name into a browser, but instead, by someone searching for the goods and services offered by the company and not including the company name, then the website will get more visits. It is only a little useful to have a website that can be found only if the company name or website address are already known. In these cases, it might be good for someone looking for information about a specific company.
Being able to find a company based only on the products or services they offer is the pinnacle of an online presence. This brings new customers to the business that would otherwise not have found it. This is leveraging the power of the internet for the business.
Through careful design and development of a website beyond its aesthetic appeal, a website can be more likely to be included in the first few pages of the search engine results. Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is a process that convinces search engines to rank some sites higher than others. While design and content on the website are important, SEO goes much farther by creating links from relevant sites back to the company website. The search engines use these links as a factor in determining the position in the search results.
It would be interesting to compare two websites for similar businesses with one launching a website with minimal promotion and the other using careful design coupled with SEO. Landau Consulting, a New Jersey SEO company offering consulting in internet marketing and SEO services has provided this infographic to illustrate the comparison.
