0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

Technology and Telecommunications ● 107
of dollars a year on SEO, but most small businesses don’t have the budget.
Still, since 95 percent of Internet users rely on search engines, you have to
do something to boost traffic.
It surprised me to learn that SEO is actually related to your marketing
strategy, not the back-end coding of your web site. “SEO has to be integrated
into your overall marketing plan,” said Rusinko.
Your challenge is to attract visitors to dedicated landing pages where
they can find fresh content. “That’s why social media is such an important
part of a Web strategy,” he explained. “When you publish timely content
on the Web, it pushes up the ranking of your site. Remember, things get
stale and old very quickly.”
So how can you improve the search engine ranking of your site?
“First build the content, then focus on getting other people to link to
you,” Rusinko advises. Contact other web sites that serve the same customers
and see if you can work together.
“The key is to understand what the audience is looking for in terms of
an online experience,” he said.
Things really shifted in 2010 when Google and Bing started to index
and integrate social media content into search engines.
“Facebook pages (not profile pages) can be crawled and indexed,” said
Rusinko. “So that’s why you have to use social media marketing to reach
your audience.”
Even if you just have a few thousand dollars, hire an independent contractor
who is willing to work on a project basis. But make sure the person
has legitimate SEO experience.
“It comes down to executing a strong strategy,” said Rusinko. “People
will go to your site because you are going to provide or add value.”
GREAT
Hire a Great Web Designer
If you are in the process of designing or redesigning your
IDEA
site, here are some things to consider:
• Check out a variety of web sites to see what appeals to you. Figure out
what you like and don’t like. Some sites take forever to load because