If you're like most folks, you've spent a considerable amount of time and energy in creating your Web site. Congratulations! It's now finished, and you should be pleased with the results.

But, here's the million dollar question:

Can anyone find your Web site?

In other words, what kind of traffic are you getting to your site, and how is that traffic converting to sales?

To boost traffic to your site, you need to use the "power of the search engines" by employing search engine positioning strategies to make your pages "search engine friendly."

You may have heard of "search engine positioning or optimization," but what exactly does it mean?

Search engine optimization is the art, or craft, of getting a site placed at the top of the search engine rankings. But why is it so important to be at the top of the rankings?

Consider this:

You visit your favorite search engine and search for "English bulldogs." Almost immediately, you're presented with a listing of 2,870 results, with 10 results per page. You look through the first page of results, but you don't find a site that interests you. So, you click to the next page of 10 results. Nothing there, so on to the next page of 10 results. How many pages of results would you go through? The first three, which would be the top 30 results?

Research has shown that few people go past the top 30 results, or the first three pages. Instead, they'll go back to the search engine and try a different search.

So, if your site doesn't appear in the top 30 results, even better the top 10, you lose. It's as simple as that.

Okay, so we've established the importance of top rankings in the search engines, but are the search engines themselves really that important?

According to NUA Internet Surveys, search engine listings out perform banners and buttons by three to one.

Not only that, roughly 85 percent of Web users learn about Web pages through the search engines. If your site isn't found in the top results of those all-important entities, your site will suffer.

So, where can you learn about search engine optimization strategies?

As with most topics, the Web is overflowing with information on how to achieve top search engine rankings. Be careful, however, that you choose a reputable source when learning those strategies. You certainly don't want to find your site banned from the engines for using techniques that you thought were okay. Also, you want to be sure to use up-to-date information, since things change so fast in this industry.

So, choose a reputable source and stick with it. The following sites are excellent places to start.

Academy of Web Specialists

If you want the most comprehensive "how to" resource for working with the search engines, consider taking a course through the Academy of Web Specialists. Yes, this is blatant self-promotion, but the bottom line is, you won't find "how to" information that's kept as up-to-date or comprehensive anywhere else. Courses begin at $99 and can be taken on your own or with an instructor. And yes, yours truly wrote all of the content.

Planet Ocean's Search Engine News

Once you learn search engine positioning strategies, Search Engine News will be invaluable to you. For a fee, you'll receive a monthly newsletter that's second to none, with helpful articles and engine-specific strategies. This is one newsletter that I read from cover to cover.

Search Engine Positioning

Though these extraordinary reports offer more than a wealth of information, they're written in a way that's easy to understand. Author Michael Campbell is an authority on working with the search engines, and he's sharing his expertise with you in these valuable reports.

First Place Software's Market Position Newsletter

This free monthly newsletter provides a mountain of information to anyone striving for better search engine rankings. Market Position is published by the same company that creates the popular WebPosition Gold software, and it's another newsletter that I read from cover to cover.

Other excellent sources include:

Fantomas Newsletter

101 E-Business Tips

Search Engine Watch

In Conclusion

When considering online marketing strategies, don't forget the power of the major search engines and directories, and take some time to learn techniques for making your pages more search engine friendly.

You'll find that the time spent will convert to better search engine rankings and more traffic and sales for your online business.

This article was written by Robin Nobles, Director of Training at the Academy of Web Specialists^TM. Over the past few years, she has trained thousands of people in her online and onsite courses in search engine positioning strategies and has written three books that can be ordered through Amazon. Visit the Academy's training Web site to learn more about their online courses: http://www.onlinewebtraining.com.

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