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SEO Appeal:
Tips to improve your website's virtual magnetism (Page 2)

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(return to previous page) .... search engine programs can't "see" non-textual information such as graphics, FLASH webpages, and webpages with frames. In Sweeney's experience, while people with public relations backgrounds often want such technologically advanced and plush websites, SEO specialists tend to shy away from them.

That doesn't mean SEO-designed page are boring. Text alternatives can be provided for graphics while FLASH webpages can be modified by adding a textual navigation menu, thus making the FLASH component a smaller but still vital part. And a text-only counterpoint can be added to framed webpages to "feed" textual information to search programs.

Entrepreneurs who are concerned about the costs associated with implementing SEO are right to be wary: the full treatment can be quite expensive. Lima notes "some companies will charge $10,000 or more to analyze your site, then charge you several thousand dollars a month to re-optimize each page." A simple website can cost as much as $1,500 for a basic one-time optimization.

A more realistic option, particularly for small-to-medium-size businesses, is to optimize your own site using in-house expertise wherever possible. Most SEO techniques don't require extra money, only a small amount of time and effort. Lima does recommend, where possible, paying for a Yahoo! Directory listing. For $300 US per year, your website gets greater credibility and search engines programs, including Google, will "spider" your site (see sidebar). Think of it as search engines spreading the word amongst themselves about the latest "hot" sites on the web.

There's also the pay-per-click option with search engines, probably one of the easiest and fastest ways for an entrepreneur to bring in revenue within a short period of time, within budget, says Sweeney. Here's how it works: you bid on specific keywords at a search engine website such as Overture. If your bid is one of the top three, then your company will show up as an ad anytime a viewer does a search using the same keywords on partner websites, such as Yahoo!, Sympatico and CNN.

If the viewer clicks on the ad to visit your website, a fee is deducted from your account. Per-click fee amounts could be as much (or as little, it depends on how you look at it) as $20 or $40 each. But if each click-through visitor brings you more business than it costs you to pay for the service, it's a worthy investment. You'll want to closely monitor the search engine's reporting tools and make your budgeting decisions based on results.

The most important point to keep in mind is that there's no reason to be intimated by SEO, regardless the size of your organization. Because whether you invest in commercial-scale optimization or the do-it-yourself version, every little improvement to your web site's drawing power has the potential to increase your bottom line.

To find out easy techniques that SMEs can use to optimize their websites: NEXT PAGE

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