| Because of the economy being all over the place at | | | | leave without indexing any further. |
| the moment, it is now more important than ever to use | | | | - Create a page specifically for the term 'italian |
| your website as a tool to get new business. Because | | | | restaurant' with 'Italian-restaurant' in the url. It might be |
| of this, many restaurant owners are now looking to | | | | index.php?p=Italian-restaurant, it might be |
| expand their presence on the web rather than use it | | | | Italian-restaurant.html depending on your setup. |
| merely as a source for a menu or opening times. So | | | | - Now with some good thinking, fill the Italian-restaurant |
| how can you promote a restaurant online? Before I | | | | page with plenty of text about Italian restaurants. |
| begin, you could maybe consider a couple of the | | | | Obviously as a business, I expect you don't want to |
| following points to convert those web visitors into | | | | publicise other businesses - so why not do a page on |
| bookings: | | | | the history of Italian restaurants? |
| - Is there something special you can 'push' about your | | | | Off-Site Optimisation |
| restaurant? | | | | Now comes the tricky part! Google gives each |
| - Are you able to offer discounts on orders found | | | | webpage a value, for the purposes of example, let's |
| from the web? | | | | say your rank value is 1, your opponents rank value is |
| You will need to decide which keywords you wish to | | | | 4. If you're both competing for the same keyword, |
| be coming up for in searches. For example, 'Italian | | | | your opponent will rank higher as they've got a higher |
| restaurant' is going to be far too vague if you've only | | | | rank value for that keyword. To increase this rank |
| got one premises. Maybe 'Italian restaurant Sussex' | | | | value for your site, you need to build links to your |
| may be more fitting. (The county appended to the end | | | | website from relevant websites. Surprisingly, this |
| is a commonly used search for local businesses). Of | | | | process has been given the term 'link building'. So how |
| course, if you're a national business, then you may | | | | do you build links? Today, I will just explain the |
| wish to be appearing at the top for 'Italian restaurant'. | | | | legitimate, what we call 'White Hat' techniques for |
| OK, let's say for arguments sake you chose 'Italian | | | | building links to your site. |
| restaurant' as your main search term. In reality, you | | | | - Setup a signature link on any forums you post on. |
| would usually choose two or three keywords. Search | | | | - Submit yourself to as many web directories |
| engine optimisation is a term for collectively carrying | | | | (manually - avoid auto submissions). |
| out the following tasks, to get to the top for your | | | | - Find 'eat out guides' and submit yourself to as many |
| chosen search term may however require working | | | | as possible. |
| harder than some other keywords depending on the | | | | - Find review sites, submit yourself for a review. |
| competition. This next stage is divided into two stages, | | | | - If you regularly visit blogs always leave a comment |
| on-site and off-site optimisation. This is by no means a | | | | with your URL. |
| comprehensive list but should get you off the ground | | | | One last thing to note - when you're building links try to |
| at least. | | | | always include the term 'Italian Restaurant' in your |
| On-Site Optimisation | | | | anchor text. For example, this may involve submitting |
| OK, I'm going to summarise with bullet points here - in | | | | yourself to directories with the name of 'Angelos Italian |
| the previous example of 'italian restaurant' on-site | | | | Restaurant' in order for you to get the relevant anchor |
| optimisation would involve: | | | | text. Remember - with blogs, only comment if you feel |
| - Sufficient use of H1 tags - with the keyword 'Italian | | | | you can add something of value to the discussion - |
| restaurant' in there. (Basically you want a relative | | | | and at least read the blog - that is somebody's |
| heading which makes use of H1) | | | | website so don't be rude! So there it is - some site |
| - Ensuring the tag has a mention of the phrase 'Italian | | | | promotion tips, this should be enough to get you |
| restaurant'. | | | | started at least. I wish you much luck in the promotion |
| - Ensuring the webpages load quickly - even it todays | | | | of your business. |
| modern era - if it's taking too long, the Googlebot will | | | | |