Get your own domain name - Many sites offer to host your content on their site. This makes you dependent on them. This may be all right now but three years from now you may regret this. Domain name registration cost around $10/year (this fee gives you the legal rights to use the domain and no one else provided you renew it every year). Pay it and start developing your own site which you control. Once you have a domain go and get yourself a hosting package. Shared hosting is good enough to start with and costs from $5-$10/month.
Develop your website - Don’t make it a one page business card. Post as much information at possible on your site. The more text on your pages the better chance you have of matching what a search engine user is looking for. Try to add more content every week. Try to add as many nouns and brand names as possible. Think of what a user would search for on Google and then create an article about it.
Make it look professional - The website is a reflection of your company. Avoid “cool things” like animation and sounds. This slows down your website performance and makes many users leave your site. Go with a clean design that is easy to use. You can have a website designed starting around $200 or you can go to places that sell premade templates starting around $100.
Location, Location, Location - If you want to be found in Google when someone searches for “new york widgets” than you better make sure you mention new york often on your site. Also try to include zip codes, town names, cities, school districts, whatever geographic identifier a user might possibly add to their search. Don’t just stuff this on a page. Make a nice user friendly page mentioning all the zip codes, towns, cities, etc. your business serves. Or on your testimonial page make sure to include the city, state and zip code where each of your testimonials came from.
Gathering Links - High school and the internet both are influenced by the popularity game. The more popular you are the more attention you will get from the search engines. In order to gain in popularity you need other websites to link to you. Contact other local businesses and see if they will trade with you. Contact businesses that do the same product/service you do but in a different part of the country and see if they will trade with you. Look for local online directories, does your local newspaper have one?
Feel free to add any other tips you would like to share in the comments.
