Jean Hanson

For a prospective customer to find your website through an Internet search, you need to focus on specific keyword phrases they might be using to search for your cleaning business. Build individual pages using keyword phrases...words that describe your business. When search engines visit your website, they'll look for these keywords on your pages.

Every web page has elements in the code that helps search engines determine what your site is about. There are many things you can do to "optimize" your site so the pages are "search engine-friendly".

Title - This is the title of the page. When you do an Internet search, the title is the underlined text in the first line of results. The title will also appear in the top blue bar in your browser window.

Description - This is a brief description of what your web page is about. When you do an Internet search, the description is underneath the title, so you want this to be compelling enough to get people to click through to your site.

Keywords - These are the keyword phrases you think people are searching for to find this particular page. If this is your carpet cleaning page, then you'll want to use "carpet cleaning" in your keyword phrase list.

Body Text - Use some variation of your keyword phrase throughout the text, but be careful not to overuse the phrase or the search engines will penalize you. Focus on using keyword phrases in the first and last paragraphs. Also, use your keyword phrase in bulleted and numbered lists.

Anchor Text - Include anchor text in the body text of a web page. For example, on the home page you could include a link to your carpet cleaning services page. Hyperlink the phrase "carpet cleaning services", rather than saying something like "Click here to visit our carpet cleaning services page". When creating your "About Us" page, include your full name in the keyword phrase because people might be searching for you by name.

Remember that people will be reading your pages, so while it's important to optimize your pages for the search engines, your content must still read well. Once each page is optimized, you're ready to launch your website.

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Jean Hanson helps owners of small cleaning companies build a more profitable and successful cleaning business through her online community at TheJanitorialStore.com. Read inspirational cleaning success stories at http://www.cleaning-success.com, and sign up for weekly cleaning tips at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com.