The excitement of launching a new business website can soon turn to disappointment if the site receives very little traffic. All the effort and investment involved in creating the site will be wasted, unless you implement some effective marketing to get your prospective customers to visit the site.

One of your first priorities should be to get a top listing on the most popular search engines and directories. Over 80% of web users start with a search tool to find what they want, so just consider the impact of getting your site at the top of a relevant search results list. You'll not only get plenty of targeted traffic, but users will also feel positive towards your business because they've actually found something relevant!

But how do you do it? Attractive offers to submit your site to thousands of search engines might look enticing, but by the time you realise that the only results you achieve are hundreds of junk e-mails, you might want to think again! You could try the DIY approach, but this can be time-consuming and frustrating, as you'll need to understand how each search engine works and build up the skills and experience to optimise and submit your site effectively.

What is a search engine specialist?

The alternative is to employ a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) company. These specialists live and breath search engines so that you don't have to. They understand what it takes to achieve a top ranking on search engines or directories and they will have a good knowledge of HTML and understand how the search engine 'spiders' work. They should also explain the issues arising from design features like frames, Flash, or actively generated pages and how these can affect the final placement of your site.

SEO specialists will spend valuable time working with you to identify the most relevant and popular search words or phrases that your potential customers will use. They will be skilled in writing optimised copy using these key phrases, from a short directory description to a longer piece of text for your web pages. Such content will contain the appropriate keyword density and emphasis to enable your site to achieve a higher search ranking than your competitors.

Only when the optimised metatags and text have been added to your site can effective submissions start. Now your site is dependent on the search engines and directories accepting it. Manual submissions are recognised to be more effective and easier to monitor, particularly now that tools such as AltaVista and Google are blocking automated software tools. The increasing number of paid options, such as Yahoo's Business Express, Inktomi's paid inclusion, or Overture's pay-for-performance programmes are also an important part of a search engine placement strategy and an SEO specialist can advise you how to get the best value for money.

Building 'link popularity' for your site can also be another important service, because this can help boost your placement on some search engines. However, make sure that any links into your site are not created from multi-site link exchanges, but are from prominent, relevant sites that will also help to drive traffic from other web sources.

Playing by the rules

Search engines and directories survive by providing users with accurate and relevant results. Consequently, they regularly review their technology to achieve this aim. Legitimate SEO specialists will use their experience and the shared knowledge of others in the industry, to work within the search engines' 'rules', while also gaining top results for their customers.

You should avoid companies that advocate techniques designed to trick the search engines. Such 'spamming' methods include inserting hidden text on your pages, multiple submissions of your site over a short period, or 'cloaking', which involves giving the search engine spiders different pages to those accessed by web users. Such strategies will fall foul of search engines and any short-term gain will be lost once your site is banned completely from the listings.

Gateway pages may be used to provide search engines with text-rich, optimised content focusing on a particular key phrase. Such pages should ideally be integrated within your site and linked from the Home Page. However, gateway pages can also be successfully used if hosted on a separate domain to your own site, but you need to know what will happen to the high-ranking pages once your contract period as they could be deleted. Also, check whether such pages will automatically redirect users to your site as this can again result in penalties for your site's listing.

Searching for a specialist

You can find a list of SEO specialists on directories such as Yahoo or UK Directory. Another way to find an experienced company is to search for them on the web. By its nature, achieving a top ranking for such terms as 'search engine optimisation specialists' or 'web site positioning experts' is one of the most competitive fields there can be, so when you find a UK company using this method, you can expect them to know their stuff!

Some SEO companies offer a free initial assessment of your site. This can range from a report on your current listings to a more detailed critique of your site and the improvements that might be needed. Such a report can help to give you an idea of their methodology. You should also ask for some examples of previous clients and the search terms that have been used to optimise these sites.

Ultimately, a professional SEO company will measure their success by the increase in targeted traffic your website achieves. This will mean that all the vital elements have come together, from identifying the most popular search terms, to creating an effective optimisation strategy and producing a high placement on the top search engines and directories.

Once this happens, regardless of the size of your business, you will become a 'market leader' on the web!