Long gone are the days where you could put up a website with a few simple keywords and rank on the first page of Google. Most of you probably don’t even remember those days! But here we are in 2017 with billions of websites online and millions more being added, and what most people ask is “How do I get found online?” Well the truth is, it takes effort, some money (you can do it with a limited budget), time and lots of persistence. Here are our top picks for how to get your website to be found online.

1. All-encompassing SEO Strategy

You’ve probably heard of SEO if you have a website, but chances are, you really don’t know much about what it means. SEO is Search Engine Optimization, which quite simply means optimizing your site and the pages on your site to help it rank in search engines. And there are many ways to do that.

Links – linking to other pages, both internal and external and having others link back to you (backlinks), can push your website ahead of others in search engine rankings. Google and other search engines like to see the credibility that backlinks, those linking to you, provide.

Site Content – Content is the #1 way to work your SEO to increase your rankings. Your content includes the Keywords, Headers, Meta Description and of course any articles and information you provide. Every business should have a blog and should find ways to share information online. And make sure that every bit of content you add is unique.

Keywords – really understanding and setting your keywords can help significantly in rankings. Performing a keyword analysis and trying out different phrases and then incorporating those phrases into your content, will help you get to the top.

Headers – As you are creating content and pages on your site, using header tags (H1) or (H2) helps to spotlight those keywords or phrases to the search engines.

Meta Descriptions – Setting up this brief description about your page helps the search engines determine the core content. Meta Descriptions are not as important as they once were, but it doesn’t hurt to include them for the search engines that may place more importance on them.

Being in the top position in search results brings a huge percentage of traffic with the number decreasing significantly as your position falls down the page.

2. Backlinks and Online Business Listings

Online directories and any other website that provides listings and links to your site, is an excellent way to get found online. If you have a local place of business, most of the big search engines provide a local listings (ie. Bing Places, Yahoo Local) and there are numerous other directories based on your category that can list your business and provide a valuable backlink. The more pages you can get your site indexed on, the better for getting found. Just make sure your are submitting your website to reputable websites like FloridaSmart.com, where google and other search engines can find your link and provide that valuable indexed listing.

3. Social Media Marketing and Management

Using social media is increasingly becoming a top choice for many businesses to bring people to their website. And as more people become aware of this valuable resource and start utilizing the tools and leveraging their brands to connect, interact and share information, the stronger these platforms become. Social media is a great way to be found, but you have to manage your presence and engage with your followers in order for it to be considered a top way to be found.

4. Offline Marketing

Yes, it is still a great way to get found online! If you run a marketing campaign in a newspaper or magazine, or go to tradeshows, buy a billboard ad, radio ad or other offline advertising source, it is still a good way to bring visitors to your site and let people know who you are. And the reason this is on our list, is because the more people who visit your site, the higher the search engines will rank you.

5. Keep your website current with the latest Mobile friendly technologies

Google is now prioritizing websites that are mobile ready. If your site isn’t keeping up with mobile technology, your rankings are going to slip. Updating your website and keeping up with the latest technologies should be the most important on this list since it is your website you are trying to bring people to. Putting forth all of the effort of getting found online with the 4 items above and then landing your visitors on an outdated website, won’t bring you any sales and will cause high bounce rates.